


Damians Changes

by Amara22



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Damian Wayne Feels, F/M, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Resurrected Jason Todd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-01 13:04:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15774672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amara22/pseuds/Amara22
Summary: Damien gets killed and instead of dying and coming back he wakes up in his younger body with Jason Todd just being tossed into the pit and decides to save him and find his way back to his family without dealing with his mothers madness.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a ton of batman stories so I decided to publish them. These are the ones that I had a plot for like I said in my other stories I dont understand the timeline very well so its not gonna be very precise. A lot of my knowledge for this fandom comes from fanfiction.

Chapter one

Damien remembered dying. He was sure that the Heretic had managed to give him grievous injuries and that even though he had managed to stop his plans he had still died from his wounds so why the hell was in bed?

Damien kept his eyes closed as he carefully stretched his limbs and he realized that he was smaller than he realized, his eyes flew open and he noticed that he was in the room that was once his, before mother had disowned him, before she had taken him to his father, before he had even known who his father was. He looked in the mirror and realized that he was about 7 years old and he had no idea why he was here.

He closed his eyes and realized that even though he looked like he was seven he still remembered everything that had happened when he was once 10 years old and he wondered, could his consciousness have somehow travelled back to the past or had he somehow seen the future? It couldn’t have been a dream everything had been real he was sure of that. Damien shook his head, even if he couldn’t figure out how it had happened he needed to know exactly when and where he was and then he needed to figure out how he was going to get back to his Father.

He had already made his choice, he had chosen to be Robin to be his fathers son, and he already knew the depths that his mother would fall too and he was not prepared to play the naïve fool in his Grandfathers plots. He had no interest in playing the solider for the league, he already knew where that path would lead him. The sun was rising which meant that someone would soon come and escort him for his morning practices, it would be the perfect time to figure out exactly where he was. He had spent most of his childhood being moved around several League hideouts all over the world, he needed to know how far he was going to have to travel. He also needed to see if any of his information was wrong or if there was anything different.

He went through his normal routine for as long as he could remembering this place and that his mother had brought him here but they had not stayed long. His mother soon took him away and then spent a lot of time away from him leaving him to train but there had been a ritual done in this place. It was the reason as to why mother had removed him from here and he honestly had no idea why or what was being done but since they weren’t gone yet then whatever it was had not happened yet. He kept a close eye on his mother for the next few days and when the ritual was finally set to take place his eyes widened in recognition. He had never seen him the last time, but it made sense since the Lazarus Pit was under their feet in this place.

Jason Todd had been murdered, somehow managed to dig himself out of his grave, found by the league and for nearly a year his Grandfather had studied him trying to figure out how he had managed to rise from his grave but his mind had been too broken, he was physically aware but his mind was blank. His mother eventually convinced her father to toss him into the pit in the hopes that his mind would be restored but with his mind restored came the pit rage, and the anger and a bit of mental instability. His mother had used that to her advantage, trained him and sent him back to Gotham to kill and cause chaos to hurt his Father with he perceived to his greatest failure and even then years later when he was in a better place mentally neither could find it in themselves to forgive each other. Damien was stunted in many ways but he knew how much losing his son even after he returned had broken him, how broken their family truly was without him.

His brother did not deserve to be a pawn their twisted games and he would not allow what happened to happen again. There would be no Red Hood, this time Jason would recover, actually get help, return to his family and become better than a broken toy who lost more and more of himself due his Mothers manipulations. Once broken Bruce over looked so much of the wrong that he had done, truthfully he accepted Damien’s shortcomings as well, trying to show them a better world but this time Jason would not be alone. Damien knew this time and he was already plotting their escape.

He heard the howls of what seemed to be a tortured animal as Jason rose from the pit. The league managed to subdue him and take him to a room. Damien returned to his room and awaited his mother, she would tell him that he was to leave immediately and he would, taking along Jason. The last time she didn’t see him off, she and Grandfather were too busy discussing what had just happened, no one would question the Heir to Demon after all.

“Wake up Todd. We must leave.”

“Bruce?” muttered Jason.

Damien rolled his eyes, he didn’t have time for this, “We’re going to him. Now come on and be quiet.”

Jason was aware enough to follow without question and the quickly climbed into the boat with Damien pushing Jason ahead of him and under the shelter where no one would be able to spot him. His mother would find out in less than 10 minutes that he had not left alone and then he assumed it would take another 5 minutes to realize that Jason was gone so he had 15 minutes to be out of here.

He knocked out the captain, tossed him overboard and sped the boat off in the opposite direction of where he was supposed to go. He was honestly looking for the next town and get gone, as far as possible and fast as possible.

He managed to steal a car and ended up in another town, where he was able to get on a bus and eventually to a bigger town and board a plane. He went to India. He had managed to steal most of the money they were using but Jason was still not totally there and he was slowly becoming more and more violent. He remembered a place that his Father once told him about, a temple in India that practiced many different types of mental exercises and meditations. His father had told him that of he had known about the pit rage from the beginning he would have sent Jason there, he believed that they would have helped with his mental instability.

The priests in the temple were horrified when Damien arrived mostly because he was in full on pit rage and trashing around. Damien was fending him off but he didn’t know how to help until he knocked him out and turned to them.

“They say you can help him?” he panted out and the men there could only see a young child who brought this teenager from very far away to get help because no one else could help him.

“What happened to him child?”

Damien took a leap of faith, he believed that Father spoke of this place because they knew what the pit was capable of, “He was placed inside the Lazarus pit. He had been mentally damaged before they did it but now I don’t know how to help him. He somehow managed to dig himself out of his grave, we don’t know how but when he didn’t get better they placed him inside that place and he came out like this.”

One of the priests put a hand on his shoulder while the others put Jason on a stretcher, “Those waters are dangerous. The effects will never go away but he can be taught control. Will you stay?”

Damien nodded his head, “I will stay with him until he is better until he is ready to go home.” 

Damien hated to be idle, to have nothing to do, he trained in the temple, the priests there allowed him too as long as there was no violence done by the sane inside so he practiced in the surrounding forests. He learned with Jason, the mental exercises and meditations. He had a lot of anger inside of himself, towards his mother, Grandfather even his Father.

He no longer believed that his Father was perfect but he could also see that he was emotionally stunted however he did try and for as long as he was willing to try then so would Damien. He had much less blood on his hands this time and the priests there helped him more than they realized. It took a month before he was able to see Jason again and he had no idea what they done with him in that time but when he saw him again the teen was more aware.

“Who are you?” asked Jason.

“I am Damien Wayne son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. I took you away from Mother before she could poison your mind.”

“What do you mean?”

Damien took a deep breath, this was probably going to end with Jason going into pit rage but he would not lie to him. It would not be fair and it would only bite him in the ass later. Jason would need to deal with his emotions all of them whether he liked it or not and he knew he wasn’t going to like this.

“You managed to dig yourself out of your grave about 6 months after you died at the hands of Joker. We don’t know how you managed that. The League managed to recognize you and they took you away from Gotham. You spent almost a year basically brain dead. You were physically aware, able feed, bathe and even fight but you couldn’t speak. Mother put you into the Lazarus pit hoping that it heal your mind but the pit has side effects it causes rage and mental instability.”

“What about Bruce and Dick? What happened while I was gone?”

Damien sighed, this was the part he wouldn’t like, “I have never been to Gotham nor have I met my father but I kept tabs on him. I wished to leave the league and go to him. I was not happy with the life of an assassin and I wanted to meet my father.

After your death Batman became dangerous, he was brutal and reckless. It was possible that he was going to get himself killed. I believe that a part of him wanted to die for failing you. There was a boy named Timothy Drake. He figured out the identity of Batman and Robin and when he saw how dangerous things were becoming he went to Grayson tried to convince him to be Robin again, he refused. The boy had been Robin for the past 6 months now, giving Batman stability.”

Jason’s eyes were already glowing bright green and his teeth were bared in pure rage, “He replaced me.” He roared out, several of the priests came to help him control it but Damien just left. He didn’t think seeing him right now would be any help especially since he hadn’t even told him that the Joker was still alive.

It was another month before he could see Jason again and this time he managed to tell him that the Joker was still alive before he relapsed into rage once again.

Damien had found much peace in this place, even learning to cook some Indian dishes. He wished that he had taken the time to come to this place before when his Father first mentioned it. In some ways the priests here managed to help him make peace with himself and the issues he had with both his parents, it had helped that this time around he was able to understand his Father’s moral code better now and in some ways he was more aware of the outside world. He had a second chance with his family, all of them especially now with the distance he was able to understand them all so much better.

He also started learning Art something he was always good at but he was getting so much better at it now. The next time he saw Jason, he took him some drawings and some books that he knew he used to like reading. Jason managed not to go into pit rage that time and Damien counted it as a win.

“Why did he replace me?” asked Jason during on their reading sessions.

“He didn’t replace you. No one can replace his son. Batman needed a Robin. Robin is something that gives Batman something to live up to a reminder of all the good and hope in the world that he fought to protect without you he forgot why he was fighting and he was losing himself.”

“Then why is the Joker alive?”

“Batman doesn’t kill. If Batman crossed that line then he would never be able to put on the suit and protect anyone ever again because he would be just as bad as the criminals he hunts. It would have been too easy to kill him but that wouldn’t have brought you back to him Jason. It would have just been more death, killing him and what Batman represents.”

Jason didn’t think he would ever be able to put on a mask and protect anyone else ever again. He believed that the Joker succeeded in killing him even though he came back, the Joker killed a part of himself and he didn’t think he would ever get that part of himself back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

After the last conversation that Damien and Jason had about Bruce and Joker, Jason stopped asking about them, instead he started asking for more books. Damien took to teaching him Arabic and once they were done with the language they moved on to discussing History and then he wanted to move on to other subjects. It didn’t take long for him to realize that Jason had figured out that he had missed out on two years of his schooling and of his life and that he wanted to catch up, to fill in the missing holes in his memories so they learnt things together, math, science but they both enjoyed learning languages together most of all. 

Jason slowly started to begin exercising again, and then moved on to sparring with Damien. They both learnt from each other’s fighting styles however Jason was different, without the league to force him over several of his blocks he didn’t become the same person. When Jason rose the first time he was consumed by the need to protect himself because he felt like no one would ever protect him again but this time he was consumed by the need to fix his life.

His scarring was extensive not even the pit had not been able to wash away all the damage that had been done by that thrice damned crowbar. There were several large scars which remained all over his torso and his face was still bore the J shaped scar. The smaller ones had been washed away but the evidence was still there. Jason was building up his body once more but he would never be the same person that he once had been. The league had trained him well but Bruce had trained him too, he kept to those styles learning some from Damien, mainly the sword fighting and the stances. It was a style largely based on discipline something that Jason was hoping would allow him to keep his mind stable.

They had been in the temple for a year, there had been times when Jason was locked away in his meditations and he was not allowed inside when he travelled to other places, mostly trying to keep the league off his back by leaving several false trails, several times, he left a few trails to Gotham but so far they had not caught him coming to the temple. They had gotten close but Damien was trained by both the League and Batman. It was highly unlikely that they would ever find him unless he made a big mistake something he was not willing to risk.

He also used the time to pick up books and paint so he could continue his own training. It had been three months since Jason had lapsed due to the pit rage and the priests deemed him safe enough to leave. They had done everything that they could and taught them both all they knew, it was no longer of any use for them to remain here, Jason needed to confront his past so that he would be able to move forward. At the age of what was supposed to be 17, Jason stood at 6’2’’ and he was in a much better place than when his mother had once upon a time released Jason into the world of Gotham.

It was also finally time for Jason to go home. They had both finally arrived in Gotham and it had been a long time since Jason had been here and by taking a deep breath he realized that it was like he never left. They were low on cash so they were crashing in an abandoned building, it also helped them lay low until Jason was mentally ready to go up to Batman.

“Can we just watch for a couple of days?” asked Jason.

Damian merely nodded his head, he understood why he wanted a little more time. There was a big difference between thinking of meeting the family that thinks you’re dead and actually doing so, he also assumed that Jason wanted to see if he could control the rage once he saw them again. He didn’t want to freak out the first time he saw the new kid, the one who was Robin now.

They were on the rooftops watching Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin were running around the city. Damian mused that there was probably something big happening in the city for them all to be out like this. He also knew that things between Dick and Bruce had only just started smoothening out. Their fight was something that had soured things between them but as time passed they both were able to forgive each other. They had both made mistakes with how they handled everything and it was only now that they were finally able to admit that much to each other. It helped that because Tim was around and he needed more than just Batman and the boy had been a bit of a bridge between the two of them.

Dick was determined that this time he was going to do better by Robin. He had been petty with Jason taken out his problems with Bruce on him and in the end it turned Jason away from them all. He wanted to be a big brother, he always missed having a large family, like the one he had in the circus and the first chance that he had at that he had ruined it, with Tim he was determined to be better.

Jason watched the new Robin closely, seeing how he interacted with the family, seeing how good he was and Jason admitted that the boy had skills. He waited for the pit rage, the anger or hatred and he did feel it. The whispers of the voices telling him to kill, to hurt, to make them bleed for forgetting him but he took several deep breaths and buried the voices back inside their cage where they could not control him and watched as Robin and Batman protected each other and for a moment he was glad that Bruce wasn’t alone anymore, that there had been someone there for him in that big manor to ensure that he did not lose himself to his crusade.

“Let’s go Damian. We don’t want them to notice that they’re being watched.”

Damian tossed one more look over his shoulder at Nightwing and Batman and sighed. He had missed his family even if they did not yet know of him, he remembered them. He would have to be careful when building his relationships with him this time he couldn’t take the chance that he would say something that would make them suspicious of why he had turned from his mother.

It was going to be hard enough with them all taking DNA samples and then Dick would probably tell Bruce that he couldn’t be trusted and he would have to earn their trust all from scratch, it was also highly unlikely that they would believe that he woke up one day and realized that he didn’t want to follow his mothers footsteps. They would want a better answer for the reason as to why he turned and then they would want to know what they had spent the last year doing and then they would probably contact his mother. The mother who at this point still believed that she and Bruce could fall in love and rule the world, looking back he tried to understand why the hell he believed that would have been possible, the mother he had turned his back on without a word or an explanation. 

Jason he had some relationship with them, Damian would have to pretend that he knew nothing and build from scratch. He looked at Tim in the Robin costume and remembered how ugly things had turned when Dick forced him to give Robin to Damian. That whole affair created a large gap between them all when Dick did that and then Bruce returned and Tim still didn’t couldn’t be Robin anymore. Tim did so much for their family, he was important but they never realized how little they appreciated it. 

Damian wanted to be Robin again, he wanted to fly with his father and prove that his place was at his side but he was no longer the angry and confused 10 year old he had been the first time around. He was younger in body this time but he was older in mind and he knew that while their family was strong their bonds were weak, burdened by misunderstandings and hurtful words in moments of desperation and this time Damian could not allow them to be falling apart in private while barely holding it together in public. They could be great and he was determined that they would be a family, one that strengthened each other instead of nearly killing each other.

He supposed that he had come a long way from the rage filled brat who had no idea who he was or where he fit in the world. That temple had done more to repair both the boys then anyone ever knew because no one would ever understand how truly damaged they had both been for Jason it had been mental and physical but for Damian it was all mental. He had so many people telling him who he needed to be and what he was supposed to do that and both paths were so vastly different it was tearing him a part until he took Jason for healing. 

The time that he spent with Jason was some of the happiest memories that he had because Jason didn’t ask anything of him. He devoured any knowledge that he was willing to share but he was also willing to teach anything that he knew. He was willing to listen to whatever he was talking about and he never tried to force him to think or act in a way that pleased him. For the first time since forever he had been able to be whoever he wanted to be and Jason still cared about him and he knew that it was because he cared about Jason first because Damian promised to take him back home when he was better and he never lied. He earned his trust and he never kicked him when he was down. There was so much potential hidden underneath all the grim and anger and confidence and Damian found him when he had been stripped of all those protections.

It had been a shame that Damian never tried to reach out to Jason before but then again no one really knew how to handle Jason because he was just too angry and too dangerous too much of a loose cannon but when the chips were down, when Batman was gone and Gotham needed help because without Batman around there were gang wars in the street, mob with actual pitchforks and basically all hell had broken loose, Jason had stepped up and he had helped. He protected anyone wearing the bat symbol and he fought to keep the city safe because at heart Jason was Gotham and he would never just abandon it. 

“How do you think we should proceed?” asked Damian.

“I say we walk up and knock on the door.” Replied Jason.

Damian shook his head, “Too social. Wayne Manor always has cameras on it, we don’t want anyone to know we’re here before Father can get his head around having two sons, one returning from the dead and the other one he didn’t even know about.”

Jason just shook his head and kept beating the punching bag, “Let’s just watch for now. We can think of a plan later.”

Jason should have known that thinking they could just figure shit out later would lead to something biting him in the ass. They were watching again and this time instead of the bat catching them Scarecrow got them, thought they were civilians and kidnapped Damian and boy was Jason pissed but he also shuddered to think what was going to happen when Damian woke up and realized that they managed to kidnap him. He was pretty sure the only reason they caught him was because of the knock out gas that they tossed when they were watching B. Damian could be very vicious when backed into a corner and he hoped that he didn’t resort to extreme violence. The kid could get very crafty with his sword when he was pissed.

Jason dropped into the warehouse and put a tighter lid on the voices. He hated these places and he really didn’t want to do this but he also couldn’t let his little brother get drugged with whatever Scarecrow was cooking. While B and the rest took care of the villain of the week Jason wrapped Damian in his jacket and snuck out, because there was no way in hell that this would be the reason for their reunion and as he snuck out he got a look at about 20 ninja assassins who finally managed to track them down, well he did realize that they had both been pretty careless lately but seriously did it have to be now? Jason took off running, he had his knives of him but he also had an unconscious midget under his arm so nope he was running.

“B are those League? Are they chasing someone?”

Jason was pretty sure that was the new Robin probably talking to Bruce and suddenly he was running from assassins and the bat family, just great.

Nightwing somersaulted over everyone’s heads though it was really dark and no one could really see properly and Jason could feel metal teasing his neck so he decided to trust the golden boy, “Hey Pretty boy, catch the burrito and do not drop it.”

Nightwing kicked an assassin off the roof when a jacket burrito was flying towards him and some guy told him to catch so he relied on his reflexes and caught the surprisingly heavy burrito and watched as the guy hit his knees pulled out some knives and started fighting of several of them while Batman, Robin and Batgirl joined in to helped. Getting a little annoyed at not being able to help Nightwing tossed the burrito back without enough force, calling out, “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

Jason shouted and threw himself a few feet to catch the burrito made out of his jacket and Batman spoke, “What do you have hidden in there that would be so important you nearly dived off a roof to catch it?”

“Money or drugs?” asked Robin.

“Why would the league be interested in that?” asked Batgirl.

Jason rolled his eyes at them all and sighed, “I told you not to drop the burrito.”

Nightwing folded his arms, “Why?”

Jason pulled the jacket of and roused the sleeping boy inside, “Hey Damian. You alright? Scarecrow got you with some knock out gas.”

They all gasped when they saw the kid and then Batman narrowed his eyes, “Who are you?”

“Now I’m hurt B. You went and got yourself another Robin and you still don’t recognize me?”

“Jason?” muttered Nightwing and before anyone could say anything else Jason was unconscious.  
“Sedate them both and take them to the cave. Run tests on them both, test DNA, fingerprints everything.” Ordered Batman.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked reading OC stories where the bats fall in love with a civilan so instead of writing another story this is gonna be about the bat family getting closer and sorting out their issues as well as Jason falling love with my OC. The realtionship wont start until a few more chapters.

Chapter 3

Damian woke up to a cotton mouth and voices which all sounded like they were arguing.

“Its him, Bruce. Jason all the tests confirmed it and you can’t just keep them knocked out like this. Its been two days.”

Damian carefully woke up and looked around, he was in the cave, in the medical bay and he could see Jason on the bed next to him and he was handcuffed to the bed. Damian’s eyes widened as he looked around, everyone was in various stages of their costumes which meant that they had unmasked but not completely changed and Damian slowly took in the rest of the conversation.

“Bruce I hate to say it but the kids DNA matches yours. He is definitely your son although without a sample we don’t know who his mother might be.”

That was Barbra he was sure of it however he was not pleased that he was drugged and somehow ended up in the Cave. It seemed like after Scarecrow managed to get the drop on them somehow Jason ended up with the bat family before he was ready or before they really got a plan together.

“My mother was Talia Al Ghul. I spent very little time with her or my Grandfather, they expected me to train until I was able to complete a mission and only then would I have been worth the effort of becoming part of the family.”

That was not completely false. Talia spent very little time with him until he was able to work as efficiently as one of their own and only then did she deem him worthy of being her son and actually began training him. It had only taken him two years to master everything she taught him and best her in battle which allowed him to meet his Father.

His voice cut through whatever argument they were currently having and before anyone could say anything else Jason woke up. At first he merely pulled at the cuffs but once completely realizing that he was trapped the pit rage took over and he roared in fury.

Dick and Tim took several steps back at the very violent reaction Jason had to getting up and then he pulled until he broke his chains. His eyes narrowed as he took in Bruce was standing there and there was another Robin standing near him, he roared in rage again shouting out about betrayal before anyone could hurt him Damian jumped onto his back and covered his eyes.

“Centre yourself Brother. You are better than this. You are a man not monster. You are in control, you do not break, bend or bow not to anyone or anything. You must take back control.”

Bruce watched in terror as his son stopped struggling and begun deep breathing exercises and then he locked his muscles into place and slowly the younger boy climbed down.

Bruce took a step forward but the young boy held out a hand, “You must not touch him yet. You will disturb him. He must put his mental barriers up once again and it will take time.”

“What happened to him?” asked Bruce and Damian sighed and then he glared at Jason.

He manages to get knocked out one time and Jason lands them in the Cave with the whole Bat colony in super suspicious, protective mode and the one that they don’t know is supposed to explain everything after telling them that he was the son of Talia and Bruce, the son Bruce assumed had died before he had even been born. Jason was screwing with him. He was doing this on purpose. This was punishment for not being aware enough and getting caught.

“Jason managed to dig his way out of his grave. I do not know how it happened, Ra was interested wanted to study it when they found him so they took him away but he was brain damaged. Talia put him in the Lazarus pit to heal him and then she was going to poison his mind telling him about how you replaced him, instead I kidnapped him and took him to a temple in India. They taught him to control the rage but it won’t go away. The effects can fade but he isn’t going to be the person you remember.”

Bruce had gone pale at the mention of the pit, he knew what those waters did and looking at his son sitting cross legged on the cave floor as he deeply breathed he realized that he was deep in meditation.

“Why did you do something like this? You were raised by Ra Al Ghul.” Asked Dick.

Damian merely shrugged, “I have not killed and I have no desire too. I found out about my Father and wished to meet him however I knew of his moral code. I wanted a family something that Talia never cared to provide. Jason was your son I hoped you would not cast me aside if I returned your son to you and I have come to care for him even if you do not want me I will stay with him.”

“Bruce won’t just throw you out of the cave. He will watch you every second until you prove that you came on your own but he won’t abandon you.”

“Jay, you’re back. That was quick.” Replied Damian.

“The cage just needed repairing, it wasn’t as intense as it was at first. The priest was right about the effects dulling or maybe I’m just used to it and am able to pull it back faster.”

Damian frowned, “You listened to the voices. You spoke about being replaced and of betrayal.”

Jason smiled sheepishly, “I’m sorry. I know I promised I wouldn’t talk like that.”

Damian merely nodded and turned to the rest of the people in the room watching in fascination.

“Master Jason, welcome home.”

Jason stared at Alfred, he wasn’t that much older but looking at him, well it was like coming home.

“Hey Alfie got any hot chocolate?”

Alfred laughed until he cried and then Bruce stepped forward, “You were never replaced. I never forgot not one day hasn’t gone by when I wished I didn’t do something different.”

Jason merely shrugged, “Damian told me what happened. I wasn’t exactly happy that Joker is still breathing but I get why you couldn’t do it.”

Things were still tense, Jason definitely wasn’t pleased with anything that was happening and then there was the mini Bruce they needed to deal with but it had been a long few days, they needed sleep, time to process, and this was not the time for the family heart to heart. Bruce well he didn’t even know where he was supposed to start or what he was supposed to feel.

“I have prepared rooms Master Bruce. Maybe it will be best of we all retired for the night.” Replied Alfred, seeming to understand the tension in the room.

They all nodded and Jason followed Alfred back to his room, everything was exactly the same, everything was just as he left it, all Alfred had done was clean that was obvious but nothing had been replaced or changed. It was like he had never left and a piece of his heart felt a little bit at ease knowing that even though so much had changed this had not. This was still his place just like Bruce had once promised him, he would always have a bed to sleep in and food to eat in his home.

“Master Damian you can follow me to your room.”

“He stays with me Alfred. Just for tonight.” 

Alfred merely nodded his head and left the room. He went to Bruce who was slumped over his desk in his office looking so much like the little lost boy he had been back when his own parents had been so cruelly gunned down.

“Master Jason had requested that the boy stay with him tonight.”

“I have no idea what I’m doing or what I am supposed to next Alfred.” Replied Bruce.

“I suggest sir, that for now you enjoy this miracle while it lasts. There has been so much loss in this family, so much has gone so wrong, maybe this is what it is, a miracle for everything that you have sacrificed.”

Bruce merely looked at the only Father he had ever truly known and said, “He still carries so much anger Alfred and Tim what am I supposed to tell him?”

Alfred shook his head, “Sir, Master Jason, needs help. It is obvious that the boy has done all he could and then he brought him to his family, a place where he knew that he would be safe. All we can do now is try and help him.”

“What about Damian?” asked Bruce.

Alfred sighed, “His mother is a dangerous woman however it seems to me like he has run from her and her ways and he has come searching for his Father. Give the boy a chance Master Bruce, after all blood will tell and he is your son. They both need you.”

Bruce retired to his room hoping that when he woke up both the boys would still be there and this wasn’t some sort of twisted dream where his subconscious wasn’t playing on his wishes and desires. He hoped and prayed that when he woke up Jason would still be here at home where he was safe.

Dick, Tim, Alfred and Bruce woke up to screaming, horrible shouting and rage like nothing they had ever heard and they all took off running towards Jason. Bruce threw open the door determined to protect his son, he had failed once before he would never fail again while the rest of his family piled into the doorway however all they saw was Jason trashing about on the bed while Damian seemed to be digging through his closet muttering.

Bruce stepped forward to touch his son, to wake him from his nightmare and the younger boy threw a book at him without turning around, “Touch him and he wakes up with glowing green eyes and a thirst to kill whatever is currently touching him.”

He turned back to the closet digging through the amount of junk that Jason collected until he managed to pull out a violin, “I knew he said there was one in here.”

The boy got into position and started to play, swearing and cursing when he found it was out of tune, his fingers flew over the instrument getting ready to play again this time a haunting melody bled into the room and the screams started to calm. It was beautiful, almost like a lullaby or a sad song that a lover would sing to one that they lost and dearly loved.

Dick had tears in his eyes as the music continued to soothe Jason’s nightmares until he finally stopped struggling and returned to sleep. The boy stopped playing and motioned for them to leave the room and then he followed them.

“I apologize, we usually have a tape of the song playing through the night but we no longer have it in our possession.”

“What was that?” asked Tim.

Bruce turned to Damian giving him his full attention, “The pit rage was something that the priests in India managed to teach him to control however he still suffers from nightmares. He does not remember his time before the pit clearly, the memories are confused, mixed up but he has slowly started to remember his death. I believe he suffers from a form of PTSD, his death was very violent however I did not know how to help him. Waking him up results in him fighting, he hates physical contact when he cannot see who is touching him and then he falls into pit rage. In the morning do not enter the room until after his mediations he does not want to hurt you but he might and that scares him. The voices tell him to do awful things and he is afraid of what he will become if he listens.”

Bruce seemed crushed by everything that he was told, “He is not broken Father and I will never forgive you if you think so. He is hurt and he is healing but he needed more help and I did not know where else to turn too.”

Bruce placed a hand on the boys shoulder, “No he is not broken by he is my son and I mourn for his pain. I was supposed to protect him and I failed Damian but you did the right thing by bringing him here. We can help him and I will not turn you away either.”

Damian returned to Jason while Tim went back to bed Dick stuck around and spoke to Bruce.

“What do you think?” asked Dick.

“Damian is probably correct. Jason suffered a very violent incident and something like that would usually cause PTSD. He may need therapy.” Answered Bruce.

Dick winced as Bruce said it, he knew how much his adopted Father loathed therapy however he was not arrogant enough to dismiss the idea entirely.

“Before you mention therapy to him maybe you should spend some time talking to him, catching him up, we could all spend some time with him, get him used to being home and comfortable with us again before we send him to a shrink.”

Bruce nodded he saw the wisdom in Dick’s answer and he took a deep breath and said, “You grew into a good man Dick, wise as well.”

Dick nearly tripped and landed on his face, a compliment from Bruce, was the world ending, “Huh?” was his only response and Bruce chuckled.

“I was hard on you, we both said things we shouldn’t have but you had a point. You needed to see who you were without Bruce Wayne or Batman shielding you and I just didn’t want you to go, I didn’t want you to realize that you no longer needed me, I didn’t want you to grow up and forget about me.”

Bruce didn’t know why he was finally saying all the things that he always knew he should be saying but the truth was that Jason had come back from the dead but Dick had gone so much further from him. He had doubted how much Bruce cared for him, thought he had been replaced, left his home and didn’t come back for so long, Jason was just gone but Dick was there but Bruce couldn’t reach him and now that Jason was back he couldn’t just leave his eldest son wondering. He swallowed his pride and let his boy know that he was proud.

“I was always coming back Bruce, no matter how far I went I was always gonna come back.” Replied Dick. 

He never realized how lonely Bruce must have been while he was off running around the world with his friends. He was just too desperate to get some independence and then he was just so angry with the emotionally stunted man that he forgotten how much he had idolized him, how much Bruce did for him and he would always appreciate the man who gave him a place when he had no-where else to go.

“This is still your home Dick and they need you.” With that Bruce retired back into his room to deal with everything that he was told while Dick was left to process how much he had put the team and his responsibilities above his family. 

There had been a time when the Team had needed him, when Bludhaven didn’t have a protector and Dick stepped up because he needed to know how far he could fly on his own and he had once put his needs above having a brother and that brother ended up dead and when he got a second chance with Tim he tried to be there as much as possible but looking at things now there were two others here that needed Bruce and him.

Jason was so broken from his past and his experiences that he needed help, real help and Damian well he had no idea what to make of the boy he seemed so grown up and so desperate for a family. That was the reason that he gave for running from his mother, because she wasn’t willing to give him love or care but the boy obviously cared for Jason, knew more about him than anyone else in the manor currently and Talia wasn’t likely to just him up. He had once walked away from Bruce to be his own man and now that he had figured out who he was and who he wanted to be he realized that his family was going to need him. Jason was going to be walking down a long road to recovery and Bruce would need help with Damian, they weren’t completely sure how much of his story they bought yet but his family was going to need him and he assumed that it was probably time that he came home.

Bludhaven was falling and everyone knew it, maybe it was time that this bird just gave in and came home because while Bruce got caught up in Jason and Damian someone needed to be there for Tim as well. The bat family had gown and their bonds were weak and shaking, their foundations shattered, it was time to deal with their issues and fix their family and Dick was needed, here in Gotham. It was time to go home.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so firstly to anyone who comments thanks so much and if you have questions i always read the comments and if i feel like I can answer something then I usually do unless it messes with the plot so yes I answer reviews.  
> Secondly this chapter is mainly based on Tim who I see as a very under appreciated character by the bats and Im not standing for him being everyones punching bag. He is loved in my story!  
> Thirdly I dont like brabra and dick as a couple they rock as friends though honestly I dont like him with any of the canon superheroes like starfire Zatanna or Batgirl. Im not bashing them i just dont like the pairings and cannot write them. When it comes there I have an OC planned for him and Jason.  
> And lastly I know next to nothing about teen titans so this is written in the young justice universe. I watched both seasons so it helps me with the plot

Chapter 4

Tim Drake was worried actually he was pretty much freaking out. Jason returning from the dead was something to celebrated don’t get him wrong, while Dick had been the final clue that allowed Tim to put together the identity of Batman as definitely Bruce Wayne it was Jason that he actually spent most of his time stalking. When Dick had been Robin he had still been very young, his mother was present more back then teaching him however by the time he was 9 years old and started his photography hobby it was Jason in the Robin suit. He had only gotten about 10 pictures of Dick as Robin but that wasn’t the point either.

The person that Tim had admired so much was Jason and he was there when Jason started getting more and more violent saw him toeing the line and he knew that Batman was angry whenever he did it but Jason had been his inspiration to be a hero and then he was just gone and when it was announced that Jason had died Tim had mourned for him and then noticed Bruce spiraling, becoming everything that he fought against and he realized that Batman needed a Robin. He tried to get Dick to pick up the mantle again but he had just smiled sadly at the boy and shook his head and said, “Some things just can’t go back to what they used to be kid.”

Tim hadn’t really understood why it would be so hard for Dick to stop being Nightwing and become Robin again but he knew that the older teen had made up his mind so he pushed his way into the manor and into the cave. He forced Bruce to let him be Robin and he always knew that this wasn’t something that Bruce had chosen for him. If he had his own way then Robin would have died with Jason and no one would ever carry that mantle again. Bruce had even insisted that the costume be changed to suit him but he knew that Bruce couldn’t stand to see him wear the same uniform so he decided that he would wear actual pants, well tights but really it was the principle of the matter. The fact was that Tim was not someone that Bruce willingly let into his life, he had just forced his way inside and now that Jason was back Tim couldn’t help but wonder, where did he fit in, was it even right for him to keep his place when his predecessor had returned? It wasn’t like Jason had much choice in the matter of giving up Robin, it had been violently stripped from him. 

Damian had woken up and Jason was already doing his meditations, those exercises usually took about an hour and a half every morning and he had already made sure that no one would interrupt before he was ready. If Damian were anyone else, who was not trained by the league of assassins or by Batman and had little fear when it came to physical danger to himself because he could defend himself from almost everything, he would have had a cold shiver down his spine from the last time he interrupted Jason’s exercises, it was actually pretty terrifying and that came from someone who had seen some pretty gruesome things in his short life.

Damian showered, put on some of Jason’s old clothes and left the room. He noticed that the sun was still rising and it seemed like Tim had once more showed his weird sleeping patterns which were technically non-existent, seriously did he live on caffeine and sugar because Damian was pretty sure that by the time Tim had reached 17 and had taken over as CEO of Wayne enterprises the teen had slept pretty much 8 hours a week. He had no idea how the hell he managed to keep himself alive and then he was shocked to realize how much he cared and then he took a deep breath and centered himself. He was getting lost in his own head too often and it was making him careless.

When Talia had originally sent Damian here his orders were to eliminate Tim Drake and take his place as his Fathers heir however the first time around Damian had a much more personal reason for tormenting Tim, the boy was too much like himself. Janet Drake had been a woman raised in a mans world who did business with sharks and when the smelt blood it usually ended in a massacre however she thrived on the bloodlust of the men around here. She took great deal in tearing down her enemies until none remained she lived by the belief that ‘Mercy was an expensive indulgence rarely worth the cost’ and ‘enemies must always be so thoroughly destroyed that even if they wanted to take revenge they would have nothing left’ and the one that gave him shivers, ‘belief in anything especially a higher power is a fantasy, you cannot rely on anyone or anything but yourself.’

Tim Drake had learned from his mother however as he grew older she grew bored with a child and decided to expand her business and travel but the boy never forgot his mothers lessons. He was smart, good enough that both Ra and Batman considered him equal to their status in mind games with Ra going as far as to give him the title of Detective and he was ruthless, in the time that he spent running the company their profits basically tripled, moving Bruce from Billionaire to the world’s first Trillionaire. The media circus around that gave the entire family headaches for weeks. Tim Drake was the perfect Heir for both Batman and Bruce Wayne but the boy was so under-appreciated that no one realized it. 

Damian had been naïve enough to believe that if Bruce ever realized what he had in Tim then he would be cast aside however now he knew how foolish he was truly being. In the League your worth would have been decided on how useful you were but with Bruce, blood had never mattered only loyalty. Bruce considered Dick, Jason and Tim his sons and they were not of his blood, Cassandra was his daughter, his only daughter and he loved her fiercely and she was of the League as well. Now that he thought of her she was probably just starting out as a vigilante, probably just popping up on Batman’s radar now but that wasn’t his point. He knew he hadn’t been fair to Tim the last time and this time he was determined to do better. 

He no longer believed that the only way he would ever be worth anything was if he was an Heir to either his Grandfather or Father however he realized how truly tiring it was to be that person. He just wanted a family, maybe be Robin again in a few years and the rest he could figure it out later but for now he needed to talk to Tim.

“It is a beautiful sight.” Said Damian breaking the silence that Tim was drowning in.

Tim nodded his head, he heard the door open when Damian stepped inside, he also knew the boy wasn’t trying to hide his presence.

“You realize that you are one of his sons even though Jason has returned it will never change what you have done for Father.”

Tim took a sharp breath, “How can you be so sure? You don’t even know him.”

“I do not know him. Talia never spoke of him always saying that she would tell me about my Father when I proved my worth however I did my own research.”

None of what he said was a lie, he just didn’t mention what his mother eventually did tell him as he continued, “However one thing I did notice was that his family was built, not by blood but through bonds. He saw himself in Grayson and took him in, he saw potential in Jason and took him in but you were the one who chose him. You chose to save him when you could have walked away and allowed him to destroy himself and I believe that you have earned your place by his side. Jason’s return will not change that you are his son and his Robin.”

Damian knew that Grayson was listening in on the conversation and he decided to leave. There was only so much a strangers words would comfort him and he believed that he had done enough, probably made a better impression and left the foundation for a better relationship to be built eventually.

“You know for the son of Bruce and Talia that kid has a shocking good understanding of his emotions and that of the people around him.”

Tim laughed at Dick and he couldn’t help but agree, the boy spoke in a shockingly proper way however he did mess up once or twice probably got that from living with Jason while Jason’s English was no longer hampered by his Gotham accent which basically screamed to the world that he was born in Crime Alley. He supposed that the two had picked up a bit of each other’s habits and traits in the time that they had spent together.

“Is it not strange how well he knows us?” asked Tim.

Dick however shook his head, “The League have better surveillance that we do, if he wanted to learn about us then he probably did his research, probably so much that he knows us and can more or less predict what we may think or do.”

Tim narrowed his eyes and realized that with enough digging it was possible that the boy just read people very well and with enough knowledge on their past as well as an outsiders view, someone who was not emotionally invested in everything that was going on around them he probably did know them better than they realized.

“You do know he is right Timmy.” Said Dick after a few minutes of silence.

“What do you mean?”

Dick sighed, it really was a crime how much Tim didn’t realize that he was part of the family, even though his adoption was pretty new, he still didn’t think Bruce was doing it out of actual affection, he probably convinced himself it was of some messed up sense of duty.

“Jason is back and we’re all really happy about that but that doesn’t mean that you no longer have a place here. You are the third son of Bruce Wayne, the Third Robin and my baby brother. Bruce might not have wanted you but he needed you and we were all too stubborn to realize how much he needed you and once he realized how much he needed you did he finally realize that he wanted you as well not just another son or another chance to be a father after he failed Jason, Bruce wanted you. 

Jason may never be able to put on the mask again and even if he does then he can do what I did, he can become someone else. The mantle of Robin has been passed and maybe one day you will pass it along willingly unlike the mess I left Jason to deal with and then the disaster that Jason left with you. Robin is Batman’s partner, his protégée and one day you too will realize that you need to figure out who you wanna be without Batman’s shadow looming over you and you will create your own name and become your own man but right now isn’t the time and maybe when you’re ready to do that then we already have someone who might be willing to take the mantle but only when you choose to do so.”

Dick left Tim to think over his words however he had a feeling that it was Bruce who might need to say something to put his mind at ease and while B might have been able to reach down deep and convey his emotions last night he wasn’t holding out much hope that he would be able to do so again so soon. It was probably best that he mention it now make Bruce understand what he means and then give him some time to process, nag a bit and remind him to actually do so and then maybe he might be able to talk to Tim as well without completely messing things up.

Dick collapsed into his chair with a sigh, only Alfred and B were at the breakfast table, Tim was still lost in thoughts, Jason was probably still doing those exercises and Damian might have gotten lost. He would go looking if he didn’t pop up by the time he was done with this conversation.

“B you might need to talk to Tim.” Straight to the point was probably the best way to do this.

“Tim? Why would I need to talk to Tim? Asked Bruce even Alfred looked a bit confused.

Dick sighed, he hated when he was right. Bruce hadn’t even thought about what Tim might be feeling and then he realized something that Bruce probably never really understood since he never raised any children form babyhood. Dick had been 12 when he came here, Jason was 10 and Tim was 13 when he met Bruce, heck the youngest child that was probably ever in this house was probably Damian since the birth of Bruce.

“Look B, I know you care but Tim doesn’t understand that. When you brought me here I kept waiting for the playboy to get bored with a kid and send me back, Jason had trust issues the size of a mountain and Tim he still feels like he is your unwanted son because you didn’t choose him the way you chose Jason and I. You taught us all so much, you expected so much of us and we always delivered, we were different from normal teens because of the night life but you can’t forget we are just teenagers trying to make the person we see as out Father proud. You need to tell him that you appreciate him and love him and that just because one son returned doesn’t mean you are gonna send him away or take away Robin from him. We need reassurance and we can’t read your mind and you need to do it before you get so consumed with helping Jason that you forget him.”

Bruce didn’t have time to reply because Jason and Damian found themselves into the kitchen and Tim joined soon after. Jason didn’t speak much instead he seemed more interested in looking around and seeing what changed while he was away. He was also reading several papers dating back to around the time that he had died, it spoke of the funeral and everything that came afterwards.

He asked Dick about the team and Dick jumped on the chance to start mending bridges with his brother. He told them of the missions and he had to tell him that Tula had died, Jason wasn’t very close to the members of the team and he hadn’t been on the team very long before he died but in that time he had become close to Tula who at the time was Aquagirl. He was told of Artemis and Wally going into retirement soon after and so much more and Damian tagged along. He seemed interested in learning from Dick about their life and those who were a part of it.

Bruce took the time to let everyone know he was taking a vacation from everything including the League and his more public persona while also making excuses for sick leave for Dick. Later Dick could figure out what he was doing or he could tell his father what he wanted him to do but for now it was just better that he not interfere too much into Dick’s personal life, he would not appreciate it especially since they had just begun talking to each other and finally stopped screaming.

Bruce let the three of them bond a little and decided to call for Tim, thank God for Saturdays, the boy had missed more than enough school due to this fiasco and then there was the recent death of his parents less than four months ago. He really didn’t need any more change in his life.

“You wanted to see me B?” asked Tim as he walked into the study.

“I spoke with Dick earlier and I suppose I owe you an apology Tim.” 

Bruce merely raised a hand to stop the protests, “I only recently realized that I ask very much of my sons, intelligence and maturity far beyond your age and you boys have always delivered to me that I seemed to forget that you were teenagers, you needed more from me than just to be your mentor, you needed a parent as well as in that aspect I haven’t done a very good job and I never thanked you.”

Tim just sat there a little shell shocked, he never thought that Bruce was ever actually aware of his emotions, “Why would you need to thank me?”  
Bruce smiled at him gently and patted his shoulder, “You saved me when you didn’t have too. You could have just left me to crash and burn but you saved me even though I was not your responsibility.”

Tim felt his throat get tight and his eyes begun to burn, “Gotham needed Batman, and Batman needed Robin.”

“You are my Robin and you are my son. I love you and even though Jason is back that doesn’t change the fact that this is your home, you are my current protégée and nothing and no one can take that from you until you choose to move on to the next phase in your life. Robin isn’t meant to be forever and one day you will pass the mantle to someone else and I will be as proud of you then as I am of you now. Don’t forget, in the coming weeks and months as things descend into craziness do not forget that I choose you as my son.”


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Jason asked about the team and everything that he was missing out on in the past two years Dick basically jumped at the chance to inform him. Dick had been an ass when Jason had first been adopted, he had just recently had a major blow up with Bruce and the man that he thought of as a father had fired him from being Robin and then there was this new kid on the block, wearing his uniform taking his place. Dick did not want anything to do with him until Wally pointed out that the kid as he kept on calling him at the time hadn’t really done anything wrong expect steal Batman’s tires. It wasn’t fair that he was taking out his anger on Bruce on Jason and while that had been a bitter pill that he had to swallow, one that he ignored, tried to find several faults with the whole situation before eventually just giving in and realizing that he was being stubborn and full of shit.

Dick had spent about four and half months talking to Jason, two of those months were spent with Jason looking at him suspiciously and wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. Jason had been a very closed of kid emotionally, he never let anyone in, never trusted until you earned his trust and once you had that the kid would have held on with everything he had and then some. Jason was an abused child something that no one ever thought to address before they threw into the field of crime fighting which was ridden with even more violence. When Jason finally managed to stop looking at Dick like he was going to clock him or stab him in the back, things had gotten a bit better but the two boys had ways to go before they managed to create anything even resembling a sibling relationship, Jason still didn’t completely trust him but he was willing to learn from him.

They probably had about four days when they had trained together seriously, when it had been just the two of them one on one and then he was dead and the only thing left for Dick to mourn was the lost time and everything that he had done wrong and to make matters worse Bruce didn’t even tell him. He found out two weeks later when the team returned from a mission and then Dick had once more taken to fighting with Bruce. The two had screamed at each other until they were both red faced and their throats hurt and if you asked him now Dick honestly had no idea what they were even fighting about, they were both just hurting and they took it out on each other. They blamed each other and then themselves and instead of strengthening their bonds, they pushed each other further away and went to lick their wounds. If there had been anything that Dick had learned from his adopted father then it was to push people away and lick your wounds in private even though logically he knew what he was doing wasn’t helping anyone. 

“You and Babs still dating?” asked Jason.

Dick was pulled out of his thoughts by a question that normally Jason would never have asked him. Jason had been interested in learning from Nightwing not from Dick Grayson and he definitely had not been happy when he tried to be brotherly but then again Dick still had his head firmly up his ass because his head was still full of his teen angst back then and his interactions had probably seemed forced to Jason, the boy had picked up that it was possibly fake and reacted negatively. Jason never pried into his life under the mask which meant that Jason asking such a private question was probably the only olive branch that the boy would ever extend.

“We broke up after about three months.” Replied Dick and there was a pause and Dick winced internally because Babs was a sore spot for him but even that response didn’t inspire much so he took a step ahead, “We never saw eye to eye, always fighting and looking back I never knew what we were actually fighting about, for the sake of our friendship and our sanity we just ended it.”

Dick couldn’t help but notice that his voice was bitter when he spoke about his relationship with Barbara and he honestly couldn’t help it. He had been in love with her for as long as he could remember loving someone but their friendship always came first, he never thought that the girl would ever think about dating him and then it just happened and it was nothing like he thought it would be because at first things were good and then they just started bickering which led to fighting and they just never stopped, it got tiring and in the end they just ended things and went back to being friends, pretending that they never tried to date in the first place and it hurt. He always thought that she would be the one for him.

“Its good that you guys ended it before you ruined your friendship. You two made an awesome team, good friends but I didn’t like her like that for you, she didn’t fit.” Said Jason as he paged through the newspapers on the Den floor.

Dick was shocked that Jason actually cared, “What do you mean she didn’t fit?”

Jason glanced at him and all he could see was curiosity, Dick really wanted to just listen to him and his thoughts. It was a nice feeling to just exist there in that moment where nothing was expected of him, “I don’t remember everything from before, the memories are kinda messy but I remember Babs and she was amazing and beautiful and strong but that was the problem she was too strong. The two of you were too alike that in a relationship you didn’t work. You care about everyone else Dickiebird, you need a woman who only cares for you, someone who isn’t holding so much of the world on her shoulders, someone who can devote time to making sure that you are taken care off. Babs is too independent as well, you need someone that needs you. Babs wanted you and you wanted her but neither of you needed each other.”

“You actually noticed all that?” muttered Dick.

Jason’s face turned stony, “I noticed everything about the golden boy. I wanted your respect not your pity or whatever the reason was that you kept forcing yourself to be nice even though you didn’t want to be.”

Dick sighed, he really hoped that he didn’t mess this up, “Jason none of that was your fault. It wasn’t fair that I took out everything that was happening out on you but I wanted to be stubborn and by the time I realized I was being an ass I really did want to fix things but I think I was too eager to try and mend the bridges that everything that I did came across as fake. Being a son of Bruce Wayne isn’t easy, being Robin was a challenge and you needed someone to talk too, someone who wasn’t Bruce and his emotionally constipated ass, you needed me and I was just too angry with Bruce too care. I could have made things easier on you and I didn’t and for that I am sorry, I’m sorry that you thought that you couldn’t come to me when you needed me and I need you to know that back then if you had called I swear I would have answered Little Wing, I would have come running even though I would have been an ass about it.”

Jason didn’t know what to say to that but he did believe him, “I knew you would have come but it was something that I needed do on my own even back then I knew if I called you would have come swearing and cursing but I know you would have come.”

Dick was about to say something else when Jason clutched his head and screamed, his eyes started flashing between an eerie green and his normal blue. His muffled his screams brought everyone running but it was Damian who stepped forward and started playing that same song from last night. The eyes flashing stopped but Jason didn’t move seeming to be lost, his eyes had lost all awareness but Damian kept playing until he blinked again.

“Did you remember something?” asked Damian.

Jason nodded his head, “I think talking to Dick triggered something.”

Damian’s lips thinned, “This is not unexpected. Do you remember or is it still fractured pieces?”

Jason just shook his head, “Pieces are falling into place, I need to go through the memories, lock away what triggers the pit rage.”

Damian nodded and turned to the rest of them family while Jason sat cross legged in the middle of the Den, “We should leave. He will need to meditate through what has been unlocked.”

Bruce turned to Damian, “What was that?”

Damian just lifted a single brow, which seemed to mock the older man, “I told you he does not remember everything well. His memories are broken, fractured, there are things he knows some things that are there but he doesn’t fully understand it and then there are blank spots. Speaking with Grayson has probably broken through something that he did not remember.”

Tim bit on his lip, “What exactly do those meditations do for him?”

Damian frowned almost like he didn’t know how to answer that question, “I did the basics of it and some of the more intense exercises however I am not a master. He examines his memories in the minds eye, and then he labels them good or bad and files them away according to time and date. The cage he refers to is the place where he places the memories of the voices from the pit, closing the cage allows him to function as sane however he still has amnesia and PTSD even without that issue. The temple fixed one problem and helped center his mind, helped with his patience and understanding but there are other problems less mystical problems more the Joker beat me with a crowbar type of problems.”

Dick was the first person to process everything the boy had told them, “How can we help him?”

Damian just shrugged, “I would not know however he did get frustrated when he could not remember everything. I believe that before you take another step, you each spend some time speaking with him, if talking to his brother helped trigger a memory then maybe being here will help trigger the other parts that he does not recall. Once he remembers everything as best he can then you can figure out your next step. I shall record the song and give you each a copy. If he remembers just play the song, it will help calm his mind, the song is familiar reminding him that he is not trapped within whatever memory he finds himself reliving.”

Bruce nodded his head, “It is a beautiful song though I don’t recognize it.”

Damian swallowed and felt himself blush even though he was fighting against it, “I created it for him when we were at the temple. He said he enjoyed music, especially violin. He laughed and said that he started listening to it because it sounded fancy and he ended up enjoying it. He did not know the names of the classical music Alfred picked up for him so I asked what he wanted it to sound like, we spent much time outside finding a melody that we both enjoyed.”

Everyone just stared at him a little shell shocked and Bruce felt a spark of pride in the boy, here was someone that had been raised by Talia of all people and instead of following his mothers path and her beliefs here was a boy who created music to soothe someone so obviously suffering. He was kind Bruce realized, he tried to be cold and emotionless but the boy was kind and he cared about people and it was likely that he did not fully understand how to express it because he was never taught to do so, he remembered Talia once telling him that love was a weakness that she could never afford yet here was her son who rose above her teachings and chose to seek him out.

“You did very well. I hope you will play again for pleasure and not just to soothe Jason.” Bruce turned to Dick and spoke to him something about calling in sick for him since he basically disappeared from Bludhaven and the two were speaking of some sort of arrangements. Damian however flushed with pride he had managed to make his father proud by doing so little without Talia or the mission from the league Bruce wasn’t looking at him as an assassin trying to be his son rather he was looking at his son who had rose above the assassin his mother wanted him to be.

Jason was meditating which left Tim with Damian and the boy was needed in the cave. Crime did not stop just because they were having what seemed to be a family crisis and Robin was the only person currently in the manor who did not have to deal with their past with Jason. He assumed that they would talk but for now he thought it best that Jason be with Bruce and Dick. He needed to fix the relationships he once shared with them before he dealt with anyone new. 

“You spoke with Father.” Said Damian and startled Tim out of his thoughts.

“How did you know?” asked Tim.

Damian shook his head, “You seem more at ease, less stressed. I assumed it was because you spoke with Father.”

“I did and you were right, all of you were right. I got some stuff to do in the cave.”

Tim was about to leave when Damian called out, “May I accompany you?”

Tim wanted to say no but Damian was trying so he would as well, “Sure, we got a few cases to close up. Let’s see your skills as a detective.”

Bruce left Dick explaining his reasons for a transfer to Gotham PD and sorting out everything else that came with moving while he went back to check on Jason.

Jason opened his eyes and he saw Bruce watching him, not with suspicion more like curiosity. Bruce always wondered what Jason would look like had he grown up and he was right, the boy was handsome and there was still so much potential in him, Bruce had seen it the day he found him stealing the tires but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sad. The last time he had seen his son, the boy reached the middle of his chest, he was a tiny, scrawny boy and now there was a hulking teen in front of him consumed with rage and despair and it was all his fault. Every move, every decision he had made had messed up an already messed up kid. He did nothing to soothe the boys anger and instead managed to fan the flames of rage until it consumed him and he wondered if he would ever see the boy become the man he knew he could be underneath all the anger.

“I was gonna come back B. I was always gonna come back. Did you really wanna get rid of me that easily?” 

Bruce didn’t even know what he was talking about or where to start with such loaded questions so he went with the safest option, “I never wanted you to go Jaylad.” Bruce wasn’t sure if he was referring to Jason’s death or him leaving the manor or what was going on in his mind though he was obviously just coming out of a memory which made him feel abandoned in some way.

“Then why did you help me find her?” asked Jason sounding so much like a lost little boy and Bruce sighed, he was talking about his mother, the first step on the path that led to his death.

“You know there were so many places where I did you wrong and neither of us ever noticed it. Dick knew his parents were gone without a shadow of doubt so he never went searching for answers but you were different. Almost all adopted kids go looking for their biological parents Jason, whether their lives are good or bad they always to know why they were given up, want answers to questions or just want to see who their parents could have been. I helped you find her because I hoped it would answer some of your questions, help you find some sort of closure but I was never going to give you up.”

“She could have contested the adoption.” Insisted Jason and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“I would have destroyed her without a second thought Jason. I am a billionaire son, I would have destroyed her, all you would have had to say was that you wanted to stay and I would have waged a war for you.”

Jason nearly cried with just those words but Bruce had more to say some good and some bad but everything needed to be said, “We never dealt with the anger I saw inside you Jason. As a child you lived a life in the grey and there was much violence in it as well and I never thought about that. I just threw you into wanting to be Robin because it was easier than dealing with the core of the problem. I hoped that being Robin would give you a channel for your anger and it would be enough and I was wrong. It just made you angrier in the long run that was why I suggested you be benched not fired or replaced just benched. I wanted you to take a break and remember that there was more to the world than violence and fighting and I hoped that finding your mother would help. I hoped that meeting your mother would have helped you make peace with your past something that we never tried to do, all I did was throw money at what was easily fixed, food, clothing, shelter and school and then I gave you Robin so you would be a hero but I never addressed the abuse, the violence you had already seen, the cruelty you knew, instead I kept exposing you it, allowing your rage against the injustice of it all to fester until you began to think about more permanent solutions.”

Jason listened, he had and he appreciated so much that Bruce had done but he also couldn’t stand to listen to him justify allowing your childs killer to walk away.

“I always appreciated what you did for me B neither of us handled everything perfectly but I knew that you were trying. You gave me a chance something I never had or would have gotten from anyone else but if the Joker had killed you, if he had taken you away from me then I would have killed him because you were worth more than him.”

Bruce sighed heavily, “The choice I made not to kill him had nothing to do with your worth or his own it had to do with what is right and what is easy. Killing him would have easy, I had him in my hands and I was going to do it but it wasn’t going to bring you back Jason. All it was going to do was kill everything that Batman stood for and it would have been an insult to you. Not to Robin or the uniform you wore but to teenager underneath the mask it would have been worse than spitting on your grave myself because I would have broken my promise to you. I promised you Jason that I wasn’t like your Father and if you came with me you wouldn’t have to worry about safety or food. If I killed him I would be a murderer, I would be a criminal and I promised you that I would be better than the person who raised you.”

Bruce left Jason when he didn’t reply knowing that he probably needed some time to process everything that just happened. It had been a long time since Bruce had spent this much time thinking about his feelings and trying to convey them and he was exhausted. He knew that Dick was sorting out his life, Tim and Damian were in the Cave and while that thought did slightly terrify him because he did not know what the boy was capable of he did think that Tim could take care of himself so he decided to do something that he had never done before, he was going to take a freaking nap. He was just so tired that for once Gotham and the rest of the world could wait, for just this one day he was going to sleep while Jason processed everything Alfred could find him when he was ready for another talk for now he was just done with today.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I skipped over most of Jasons therapy just outlining what they went through in this time skip because I wanted to move the plot along. This isnt just a story of jason and him healing its about the family getting closer and eventually a love story for all four brothers. Besides the arugment was going to be the same over and over again and I just dont have the patience to write Jason whining about the past. I want him to move forward and live.  
> I also know that my idea of studying medicine is completely wrong and probably impossible but this is fiction. Ive seen weirder... just let it go please.

Chapter 6

The first six months after Jason’s return had sped by so fast Bruce wasn’t always sure where the time had even gone. Jason had issues dying and coming back to life after a very violent death didn’t do much for his mental well-being however father and son had spent much time fighting and shouting and sometimes even crying. One conversation between them was hardly going to wipe the slate clean and Bruce found himself saying the same thing over and over again trying to get Jason to understand him and his moral codes, trying to make him understand the messed up situation that they had found themselves in and to help him understand that he was still loved, that Jason would always be family. The Wayne family had basically gone ghost in those six months only ever going out in their masks. As much as Bruce had wished that crime would just stop while he dealt with his family drama, it didn’t so he had to go out as Batman, ‘Brucie’ was on an extended vacation and left Lucius in charge of the day to day. Anything that was needed of him to do was done via phone and fax. 

There was a girl patrolling around in a home-made costume, her name was Stephanie Brown. Robin had found her and brought it to Bruce, the man had so much on his plate he just told Tim to handle it however he saw fit since he was the one who found her. He knew that if Tim couldn’t convince her to stop then he would probably train her and honestly Bruce just couldn’t find it in himself to stop the boy, the girl did have potential however she also seemed to be dancing on the lines of the grey. She needed more stability in her life, more discipline but for now he let Tim handle her. She was only 14 years old, Bruce Wayne offered her a scholarship to Gotham Academy and told her as Batman that if she wanted to be trained by him and have this life then should would have to rise above her age and she would be asked to do the impossible because he only accepted the very best that one had to offer. She was basically ordered to take the scholarship, keep up with the grades and the standards he set for her and once she was deemed field ready, she would work with them and she would be expected to be able to keep up with them. Steph and Tim got along well and worked well together and she was now also in his school, so he was considerably less lonely now that she was around.

Bruce and Jason had days when they argued their ideals until they were screaming at the top of their lungs, days when they mourned for lost time and their misunderstandings and then there were the okay days when everything seemed almost normal. Bruce had told Jason to keep a dream journal for the nightmares and writing them out, understanding what had happened, helped soothe his mind. He now remembered the past almost perfectly; he was also back in physical condition however he never asked to patrol. Jason helped Alfred patch up Nightwing and then it seemed like his room turned into some sort of library. Jason had always been an intelligent child, one who hungered for knowledge and when presented with the opportunity to learn, the boy had basically inhaled his knowledge but now it was like he was learning and researching with some sort of purpose in mind and it was one that he was not yet ready to speak to Bruce about however Bruce had been playing with the idea of getting Jason to speak with Black Canary, a trustworthy hero and a psychologist, one that he trusted.

The conversation had gone exactly how he had expected it to go-not well. They fought, they argued, they raged at each other and then they didn’t speak to each other for two days. Bruce approached the subject again when tempers cooled and Jason was hurt, thinking that Bruce thought that something was wrong with him.

“Jason you aren’t sleeping for more than 5 hours without screaming. You freeze when you hear laughter you flinch when people touch you and can’t see their face. You have done so well, come so far but you need more help. Diana can help you, I have spoken to her, and she forced me to do a few sessions with her when you were gone. It helped it didn’t make everything perfect but it did help. At least give her a chance to help you.” He hated the idea but he caved, he promised to at least give it a chance and it helped and by whatever higher powers existed was Bruce happy that it worked. 

Bruce had contacted Talia and met with her in private to tell her that his son was at home with him, both of his sons and if she took a single step in getting them back then he listed everything that Tim had spent almost a month on, hacking into the League, gathering evidence, blackmail material, he held way too many of their secrets now and they were willing to go to war with Ra. The League and the Bats stayed away from each other, using each other when necessary however before Damian had run they mostly pretended the other didn’t exist unless absolutely necessary because both sides knew that an all-out war would destroy them both. Damian refused to see his mother; instead he gave his Father a dagger and said, “Present it to her. Hold between both index fingers and bow your head but do not lower your eyes from hers. It says everything.”

Bruce did not understand League tradition however after he listed his threats he did as his son had asked and he saw the look of fury and anger on her beautiful face which had become more and more agitated as she was back into a corner, crumple. She took the dagger, holding it between her index finger and thumb and then let it fall. Bruce knew it was a symbol as well, a message received from her son, one that she answered.

“Tell Damian Wayne that Ibn al Xu’ffasch is dead, when next we meet it shall be as enemies.”

Before she could disappear she had to help her beloved understand she could see the confusion in his eyes even though he tried to hide it from her, this would probably be the last time she allowed weakness where this situation was concerned.

“The practice is seen as the cutting of bonds. He has not only disowned me as his mother but he has broken all ties to his maternal line. The League do not tolerate traitors however we do not force loyalty, if it is not freely given then it is a potential danger. He is as good as dead but when we cross again we will be enemies, the paths that we have chosen to walk will force us there.” 

Bruce was shocked at how far Damian had gone, the cutting of the bonds indicated that he would never be able to repair those bonds there was no going back not in any way. He would likely be killed if he tried. If there was anything Bruce hated then it was killing however he knew that the League kept to their traditions. Their way archaic and blood thirsty, a pit where only the strong survived and the weak killed however they operated by their codes. While Jason and Bruce were repairing their bonds and coming to an understanding Bruce was trying to build a relationship with Damian something he wasn’t sure how to go about since the boy wasn’t a Robin. Most of his bonding time came through sparring and teaching his sons whatever he knew or they were willing to learn but Damian was already a fierce opponent. He was raised by Talia however just by watching him train Bruce knew that he was better than his mother. He was intelligent, there was almost nothing for Bruce to teach him and if there was then he didn’t do know what it was that he needed to help him learn.

Dick once went down to the Cave and saw Jason and Damian practicing some sort of sword style that he couldn’t name, going through the paces. Steph insisted that they join in and soon they all decided that sword work was their new bonding experience. Jason went through the stances because it was calming to his mind however Dick, Tim and Steph all learned so much from sparring from Damian. His style of fighting was largely league based however they could all see places where he chopped and changed to suits his needs, he was fast and he kept them on their toes. He could hold his own against Nightwing and he was one of their best fighters and Tim learned a lot from him. He noticed himself getting even faster, fighting better and Damian was largely the reason however they all noticed that he seemed lost with what else he was supposed to do if he wasn’t helping them train or at the computer helping them on comms.

Dick realized that he didn’t know to have much fun and they all knew he was an extremely fast learner, so school was out and Damian was currently lacking a purpose however he was also very artistic something that no one in the family could claim. They encouraged him to play music, paint and experiment with all types of art. He loved animals as well and so Bruce got him into charity work he couldn’t expect Damian to act like a normal child his sense of responsibility and his maturity placed him too far above his age group so he used his sons brain for something good. The Wayne foundations covered nearly everything however Bruce never had much time to go through the financials or even figure out what they were doing when they weren’t hosting events to raise money, all he knew was that in any major disaster he donated money and helped out where ever he could.

Lucius Fox dedicated most of his time to the company aspect of everything so he allowed Damian to run the projects and paperwork behind the scenes even though everything was completely in disarray. Bruce always believed that there were other ways to help people, not everyone was able to put on a mask nor did they have the means however he did and he tried to do as much as he could. Damian looked the financials, fired several people who were stealing from the budget and then fired even more people who weren’t even doing their jobs because they didn’t actually care and then he went looking for solutions to some of the problems in Gotham and he took to heart something that Jason told him. 

‘Help the women and children that can’t get out. Help the kids. Focus on them first, they are usually the ones left powerless.’

Damian was working on a big project which was probably going to turn Gotham on its head and he relished the mayhem it would cause when people found out about their new endeavor however it wasn’t quite ready yet so he was holding onto his plans nor did he feel like he needed to be Robin just yet. Now that Damian understood the bigger picture, he knew that Tim was needed at his Father’s side for now and the day would come when he would take up the mantle but as restless as he was he could also feel that it wasn’t time yet. He was also enjoying some time out of the spotlight and figuring out who he was, for so long there were so many voices in his head, Talia, Ra, Dick even Bruce but he couldn’t find himself, couldn’t even hear himself scream above the noises in his head and he was so sure that he had been screaming at the top of his lungs and no one could hear him, he was taking this as a break. Time to discover himself and finally get the family he always wanted but never allowed himself to have. He was glad that he had this chance things were already better than they had been before.

Nearly 11 months of intense therapy and several sessions of family therapy, with Bruce and all four boys joining in a few sessions as well, Barbara, Tim and Damian had created an elaborate web of lies. The doctor that had autopsied Jason had been from Ethiopia and sadly he had been caught in a gang war- wrong place wrong time- kind of thing however the Doc did have criminal leanings. He sold children to human traffickers; ones that he knew wouldn’t be missed so they used his criminal history to benefit them. The doc had falsified the dental records. The boy they had buried was not Jason but rather someone else who had black hair and blue eyes. They created a John Doe who Bruce had believed was his son and buried. Jason Todd was severely injured and left comatose, so far from home no one knew him and when the truth had been discovered the boy had just woken up.

They left a trail for anyone to find which spoke of intense physical therapy. They had gotten him tested to figure out whether Jason could be placed back in high school however he managed to get his GED in less than two months since his return. He then turned his attention towards college even though whatever he was learning so obsessively. Just before he had taken up therapy with Black Canary he finally told them what he was studying.

Jason was studying medicine. He had passed all the tests which would have put him in his third year of med school however he had only passed the theory. They still needed to schedule several days’ worth of practical lessons where he would be tested once more. It was unusual, not many people studied medicine this way however though it was unconventional it was not unheard of a person to study this way although it wasn’t something that people motivated students to do mostly because the practical part was something that students struggled with however if Jason was able to pass, he would probably be one of the youngest pre-med students that they would have.

Bruce had never been more proud in his life. When he was a young boy he dreamed to be a doctor like his own father and then when they were gone and he lost himself to his pursuit of justice, he never thought there would ever be a doctor walking these halls again. Jason also chose that moment to tell Bruce that he didn’t think he had it in him to put on the mask again, he was tired of all the violence and he was scared of what he would become if the cage broke in his mind and he was sure that he would have a harder time keeping the cage closed if he was out there running on rooftops and hurting people. He also believed that if he put on a mask he would end up killing someone unable to stop himself and he didn’t want to be that person. Alfred told him that there were other ways of helping people so Jason decided to dedicate himself to saving lives in a way that didn’t involve him fighting every night for his life.

His family had been supportive, there was no reason that he couldn’t retire from the night life and as a doctor he could be useful to his family. He wasn’t completely cut out of that part of their life and if they absolutely needed him he could always grab a mask from the cave and he still helped with some of the detective work. Jason just couldn’t go back out there and like Dick had once told Tim, ‘some things just can’t go back to what they once were.’ Jason agreed with Dick Robin wasn’t something that could have lasted forever and his time as Robin was over and so was his time in the mask. He wanted to see how much good Jason Todd-Wayne could do in the world.

Bruce was finally more or less coming clean to the press. He had spent a year hiding under a rock, Dick had moved back to the manor and transferred to Gotham PD which caused him a headache when people couldn’t see past the celebrity status he had as the adopted son of Bruce Wayne so he quit that job and focused on his family. Tim was only seen when he went to school where Alfred picked him up and took him straight home. No one had any idea what happened to the once flashy family however the press had a hell of a time, spreading gossip, from wondering if Bruce was dying, to drugs, to cults to basically everything underneath the sun until they actually had to admit that they had no idea what happened to the Wayne family and then Bruce Wayne called a press conference where he revealed that one of his sons had come back from the dead, spent nearly two years recovering and had become a pre-med student while one of Bruce Wayne’s many girlfriends managed to get pregnant, hid it from him, died and sent the boy to his father, the last of his family. 

There were so many stories in the one speech he made all year that once more the press descended on them like jackals. Dick just rolled his eyes and prayed that they would get over it soon. He also needed to figure out what he was supposed to do now that things were finally getting back on track. Their personal lives had all been on hold since Jason had returned but now they were finally moving and he needed to figure out his place in Gotham. Being a cop was good while he was in Bludhaven but not here in Gotham and then Damian approached him with a plan that would do a whole lot of good and Dick almost couldn’t wait to get started. They took it to Bruce first, and then Bruce would give the thumbs up to Dick to run the project. They were both sure that Bruce would be proud of what Damian had managed to accomplish.

Proud had been an understatement to what he felt for what Damian had managed to accomplish. Crime Alley and the surrounding area was one of the worst parts of Gotham and nothing that he had done as Batman or Bruce Wayne had managed to make anything better however Damian had taken a look at the core of the problems in this place and he looked for actual solutions.

He started with the abandoned school, there were still several teachers who were out of work living in crime alley and then he went looking for a location and he took to the abandoned mini mall which once tried to bring in money to that part of the city and failed. The crime rate was just too high and minimum wage was no-where enough to help a place like that.

The building was stable however it needed work but that could be handled. Damian planned to expand the building turning it into a shelter for woman and children. He had already spoke to 10 woman who had qualifications as teachers before for whatever reasons they ended up in crime alley, most of them were abused woman. It could double as a school and a home. If they could get a few nurses inside they could also turn it into a rehab clinic for those who needed it. Once the children were caught up with school they could then attend the public school in Gotham, if their grades were high enough they could be recommended for scholarships. The building would operate as an orphanage as well so there was a chance that the children could be adopted. He also had several security measures put into place so anyone who came looking would have a hell of a time getting inside. It was one of the best ideas that he had seen to help that place in a long time.

The press had been shell shocked at how well managed and well thought out this plan was. Damian watched the financials like a hawk and he knew that there was more than enough money to pull this off, he also knew that if there was anyone competent running this side of Wayne enterprises they could have done this so much sooner. He didn’t blame Father for not being able to pull it off, it had taken a lot of research to get this plan to where it was and he just didn’t have the time.

While Dick handled everything that was going on above the board now that the plan was in place Damian decided it was time that his Father once more regained his Trillionaire status. It would still be an insult to his pride if he couldn’t raise the business as much as Tim had been able too however he refused to do it alone, he wondered how far they could conquer if he and Drake teamed up and went after the morons who thought they ran the company even though it wasn’t even their name on the logo while Father retained his ‘Brucie’ persona.

Tim had recently joined the Team as the new Robin at 15 and Damian just had to know what he and Tim would be able to accomplish if they teamed up and ran Wayne enterprises, he was still amused by how well their methods complimented each other and he was able to admit out loud just how worth Tim was to the Wayne name because he never had this much fun with Dick simply because Dick didn’t understand a word of business politics.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Stephanie had no idea how she ended up where she is today mostly because she never believed that this is where she would end up. She wanted to spoil her father’s plans and another part wanted to kill him for everything that he had ever done wrong. She was a good fighter and she was just so tired of everything that she donned a cape and a mask herself however after being convinced by Batman that she was better than a criminal and she had the potential to be a great hero she didn’t kill him, she sent him off to jail and then they expected her to stop but she couldn’t, she just didn’t want to stop helping people, she wanted her life to matter, she wanted a purpose and in that cape she felt like she had one so she kept on patrolling until Robin brought her to the batcave and said, “If you want to survive in Gotham you need more training and back up or you’re going to end up dead.”

She blinked and suddenly she had a routine and two older brothers and one younger brother. Bruce Wayne was Batman, took her a few days to get over that one but Stephanie was not the daughter of Bruce Wayne. He cared for her, helped her even made himself into a mentor but he never tried to parent her or adopt her. Stephanie had a mother and she had her own daddy issues that he wasn’t going touch that in this life time but he was dependable. Bruce had become sort of like an uncle to her, she was family but she wasn’t his child. It was kind of difficult to explain but Steph also didn’t step into certain places where she knew she didn’t fit in. She supposed she was sort of like Barbara the Batgirl.

After a lot of extensive training she was given a new uniform however Bruce asked her if she wanted their family symbol on it, making it known that he wasn’t forcing her to wear it but she could if she wanted, she was one of them. Stephanie agreed to wear the symbol honoured by the amount of trust they were placing in her. She was now known as Spoiler and the purple bat on her chest showed who she was loyal too. She and Tim were best friends and while she was pretty sure she was developing a crush on him she wasn’t ready to push that point just yet, it might end up being nothing and she did not want to endanger their friendship.

Since she started going to Gotham Academy she rarely saw any of her friends anymore and she broke up with the sort of boyfriend she had, hell she had been so busy she rarely saw her mom sometimes but as demanding as it was she also knew that there was an underlying meaning to being pushed so hard, if she messed this up Bruce was done with her. As much potential as he could see he didn’t want her doing this and he didn’t think it was a good idea but Stephanie was just as stubborn as they all were, she wasn’t going to stop, she was going to live up to all of his expectations and prove to him that she did have it in her to be a good hero. At school she was often compared to being Tim Drake-Wayne’s version of Barbara Gordon and she supposed that she sort of was but that wasn’t the point. Her life had been going in a good direction and she wasn’t going to mess it up, she deleted the text from her ex asking to meet up again for some ‘fun’ and went back to her homework, she had better things to do than to mess around with him.

Damian had been mapping out the time line in his head once again but while he assumed that the Justice League and the team were handling everything more or less the same since he hadn’t gone anywhere near that life other than the cave he also knew that Stephanie had gotten pregnant around 15 however he doubted that would happen now. The last time Stephanie had not been really welcomed into the family, Bruce kept her at arm’s length only training her when it became obvious that she was not going to stop however this time Bruce had gotten her into a better school, secretly offered her mother a better job in one of the catering services that he owned, that woman could manage a group of caterers very well which got her into an apartment in the better part of town. It wasn’t very fancy but it was half an hour away from crime alley and it was definitely safer than the places they stayed at before. Stephanie had managed to become a friend to the family and they treated her as such so he highly doubted she would make the same mistake.

Tim had joined the team a little earlier probably because he was doing better faster, Damian never really trained with Tim before but this time they taught each other a lot and besides when Bruce and Jason were doing whatever it was upstairs that led to shouting matches or tears or just silence depending on the day all Dick, Tim and Damian had to do was train in the cave even Barbara commented on their teamwork which was pretty scary when you put them all together. Stephanie and Barbara hit it off as the only girls in the cave and the two quickly struck up their own friendship, the two spent a lot time together even partnering up sometimes during patrol and Barbara was trying to convince B to let her onto the team since she was doing very well. 

When Wayne industries announced their new charity foundation most people couldn’t believe that it would really happen. However less than a week after the announcement, Dick Grayson-Wayne had been seen on site with the construction men working on developing the building. Black Mask’s gang and others tried to halt the process, this place was catering to woman and children, free services and education for children even help getting a GED for drop outs. It would also help abused women and mothers find better jobs away from their abusers. It would target those they sold drugs too and limit their work force but the Bat didn’t let them and Grayson-Wayne wanted the security features up fast, within four months the building was stable with wiring and water running. All they needed to do was to furnish the inside and stock up on supplies.

Damian however saw another opportunity, he saw that many of these people over the age of 18 even with a GED their chances out there in Gotham was still bleak, those who were able to score high enough would probably be granted scholarships if their results were stellar or they would enter a student loan with Wayne industries, where the company would pay for university now and then they would pay back the money to the institute when they graduated. This allowed for some money to come into the institute in the future without just depending on donations however it was unlikely that the older teens would go for that offer, education was something that they had been deprived of, something that had been unimportant in the grand scheme of finding food and shelter. They wouldn’t want to go back to school or even university.

Damian decided to build his own construction business. His Father’s business dealt with technology and lands however they didn’t have a construction and development department this would be added to the company slowly. First they would take anyone who was over 16 who wasn’t going into university, they could be workers, mixing cement, transporting materials the grunt work a few college courses and they could move up in that department or at least manage to earn something and decided what they want to do for themselves. They could turn the department into a way to give them work and prosper even without a university education. He looked into other abandoned works seeing what else they could get up and running and placing them inside, maybe a catering service as well as cleaning services. It was all honest work and it would give many more than they ever had before.

When Damian pitched the idea to Dick, the older boy was both awed and proud. He never really thought what would happen to these people after, yes they could give them immediate help but they needed a way to survive in the future and this way they could have options. He also reminded Damian that they could also offer to help them enlist in the military. It was another option to help them and it wasn’t their choice to withhold that chance from them. Many orphans chose to go into the military because they had no-where else to go.

When Damian reached the age of 10 in this lifetime he had solid relationships with all his siblings and his father and Gotham had been turned on its head. When the doors to the ‘Fida Foundation’ opened Damian already had several battered woman who he had met while speaking to the teachers he was looking for come forward. Jason went around several of his old crime alley hide outs and convinced some of the children to come to the shelter, they would not be forced to stay but they could at least have a warm place to sleep for night especially since winter was coming in and the nights were getting cold. He knew it would take time for them to trust but if the word spread faster it would be better.

Fida meant redemption in Arabic and this was sort of Damian’s way of saying that he was trying to do better not just for his Father and their family but for himself. Many of the disagreements that were in the family were due to his thoughts and the belief that only he was entitled to his Father’s legacy something that he knew was wrong. He could see how much happier his father was in the past few months when all 4 of his sons sat down for dinner at the table. His father had been lonely, he wanted a family and he thought that he didn’t deserve one because Damian couldn’t see past Talia and everything that he had gone through. He was glad he had this chance.

Tim and Damian had teamed up and spilt the work with Wayne enterprises, ever since Tim had joined the team he was busy so he wasn’t seen as much and Damian kind of missed having him around so Tim put aside everything and spent a day working on causing mayhem with his baby brother. They spilt the paperwork; Damian went through all the financials while Tim looked through all the business proposals and then the two boys grinned. They gave Lucius Fox a folder and told him that he was to follow and not tell Bruce because they wanted to see how much mayhem this could cause but it would all benefit the company so Bruce didn’t really care as long as they made money.

The two boys had fired several people who were stealing from the company, cut off several businesses that weren’t doing so well, bought out some that had potential but had bad management and then they converted them all to Wayne enterprises. They set up some international trade routes and then they got contracts all over Gotham for the little things that people over looked, water maintenance, sewage systems repairs etc. which brought in even more money and then they waited to see what the rise would be when they did an audit. Tim knew that for some odd reason Damian was trying to get Bruce to become the world’s first Trillionaire and he had some sort of cut of date for some reason but since the kid had goals Tim was willing to be a good brother and help out. He supposed that he was doing this because he was bored and began to think that maybe it was time to get Damian out in the field. He was too bored at home if this is what he was plotting in his free time.

Tim was no-where near ready to give up his mantle completely however he was spending a lot of time with the team similar to how Dick had slowly begun to work on their cases more than the stuff Batman was working on. It wasn’t really practical for Tim to be Robin, be on the team and be able to give as much time to Gotham as he had done in the past so he spoke to Bruce about maybe sharing the mantle.

Damian could go out and patrol as Robin when Tim wasn’t around, when he was working with the team and when he felt like he was ready to create his own name for himself then he would give the mantle over to Damian completely. Bruce agreed however he made it clear to Tim that he wasn’t ready to go on his own patrols just yet. He was only allowing this because he knew that on the team he had help. Tim agreed and Damian was glad he could put on the mask again. He was feeling restless lately, he wanted to be out there and this was a few months before Tim had been stripped of being Robin.

Damian had been enrolled into school and he absolutely refused to go to elementary school. He skipped two grades which put him in middle school and then he begged to be allowed into the advanced music programme just so that he didn’t lose his mind. Bruce allowed it as long as he performed only slightly above average in his tests. Tim Drake-Wayne was famous for being a genius and Bruce didn’t want to draw too much attention to his youngest son instead the media had dubbed Damian a musical prodigy.

He played in several concerts already and the press just ate up his innocent façade. He gave all credit to his talents to his ‘mother’ who the press still didn’t have a name for however Bruce made it clear that they had cared for each other but their lifestyles were vastly different and they just couldn’t be together. He hated the fact that this meant that he missed out on so much of his sons life, she was a very independent woman, she raised the boy well on her own and she died in a car accident. He was slightly bitter that she didn’t tell him about her pregnancy but when he looked back on the life that he was leading he understood why she didn’t think he would be able to manage the responsibility.

Then came the annual audit and wasn’t it a shock to Bruce when he woke up after a night of crime fighting to the media going absolutely mental because Bruce Wayne was now the world’s first Trillionaire. Alfred merely raised an eyebrow at Bruce then disconnected the landline, if it was important they could contact him on his cell. Bruce shared a lost look with Dick because neither of them had done anything business related and Lucius hadn’t said anything about new business ventures so he had no idea where the sudden pay increase came from.

When Damian and Tim walked into the room, well Damian walked, Tim zombie shuffled and didn’t speak until his second cup of coffee Bruce made a mental note to check up on the boys caffeine addiction and check his health, Damian read the paper and smiled smugly. Bruce narrowed his eyes and then Tim was functional, read the paper and the two boys shared a high five.

“What did they do now dad?” asked Jason as he collapsed into his chair.

Dick merely passed over the newspaper and Bruce was still waiting for an explanation so Damian shrugged and replied, “I was bored and Tim felt bad for not spending time with me so we did this.”

Bruce just knew that Alfred was hiding his chuckles at the look of shock on Bruce’s face. “You turned me into a Trillionaire because you two were bored?” he repeated.

“We had a bet on how long it would take to pull it off.” Replied Tim.

Dick and Jason both started laughing and then Damian spoke up, “You know you could just give the position of CEO to Tim, let Lucius retire and you do not have to break your whole ‘Brucie’ persona.”

Bruce just sighed and replied, “I have considered it but I was hoping to wait until he was a bit older. There is enough on his plate now.”

“What are we supposed to do about the media circus outside?” asked Jason.

Bruce rolled his eyes, “We’ll organize a party and you will be needed in attendance all of you. The three of you will probably need a date as well. We can make is as lavish as needed to appease the media. It will also be a good idea to solidify a persona with the media. Dick you haven’t been seen around since you were 17, and Jason avoids the cameras like a plague, no one knows Damian and Tim plays the over worked genius. There’s been a lot of talk going around, it will be a good idea to cement our place before anyone draws any conclusions. Vickie Vale has been theorizing that Tim Drake-Wayne is the current Robin. Don’t know how she got that theory or even why when everyone has been so confused with the Robins that have been sighted lately.”

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Why the confusion?”

Damian rolled his eyes, “I wear a smaller version of Tim’s Robin uniform when patrolling. There is talk that Batman has two different Robin’s at his side and some are wondering why or if they are just seeing things. Tim is taller than me and they are noticing the fighting styles are different.”

Dick sighed, “I hate Vickie, she always comes after us for a story.”

Bruce nodded, “Then we need to give them one, something that will also deter her from thinking that its Tim under the mask as well.”

The boys all nodded their acceptance and told Alfred to send them the date for this gala and get them something to wear. Dick was almost just going to message Babs and ask her to be his date like they did many times before but he also remembered what Jason told him. They wanted each other but they didn’t need each other. There was no point in trying to fan the flames of their connections when it kept dying out. It would only hurt them both in the long run. Dick had held on so tightly to her mostly because she had been his first love that he never really saw anyone else very clearly even Zatanna.

The two of them had dated back when they were 14, broke up after a year got back together after he and Babs broke up before finally breaking up again just before he moved back to Gotham. She was an amazing beautiful woman but he constantly compared her to Babs unconsciously and he knew that when he looked at her there was someone else on his mind and so they broke up with Zatanna even telling him that while he cared about her he didn’t love her the way she loved him. Barbara Gordon had been his first love but he had been Zatanna’s and neither relationship worked out. He decided to go visit Jason at the hospital, he was going through the theory of his training so quickly that all was left was two years of practical’s. He was also studying some other medical related stuff; Dick had just given up trying to understand what his brother was up too. 

He didn’t really know why he was coming here, Jason would probably take a break grab some lunch with him and then he would have to leave but Bruce telling them to get a date reminded him of how long it had been since he actually had a meaningful relationship with someone. 

There was a woman talking to Jason when he approached and Dick actually paused for a second because she was gorgeous, long pitch black hair which was tied to the nape of her neck, creamy smooth skin but it was her eyes that held his attention, her eyes were purple. He never saw a shade like that on human being in his life and it was breath taking. She was also frowning and seemed to be arguing with Jason about something.

Jason saw his brother walking up to him, said something and walked away from her. Dick knew the woman was beautiful but he wasn’t interested in her. He was more interested in the amount of emotions that she was able to pull out of Jason.

“Who is that?” asked Dick instead of greeting his brother.

Jason rolled his eyes, “Certified medical genius, she’s a first assistant nurse at 18.”

Dick just gave his brother a dead pan look and Jason rolled his eyes, “She works with the surgeon in the operating room.”

“Why didn’t she become a surgeon?” asked Dick and Jason just glared at him, basically screaming at him to drop the fucking subject before he throws him out the second story building window.

As the two brothers walked out of the hospital, Dick saw the nurse again, this time however she was walking next to a red haired woman with the same purple eyes that she had. The woman’s hair was nothing like the auburn colour of Barbara’s it was similar to a fire or maybe autumn leaves. As the woman passed him she blushed prettily under his gaze and turned away, waving to the nurse, ignoring him. Dick nearly walked into a pillar and Jason just sighed in resignation. He had a feeling he was going to be seeing a whole lot of his brother.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My name isnt actually Amara I just really like the way it sounds so no my OCs are not based on me personally.   
> Im not 100% sure how old Jason is supposed to be so Dick is 21, Jason 19, Tim 15 and dami 10. The young justice s2 is starting in this chapter even though we dont see it.

Chapter 8

Jason Todd-Wayne had turned himself into a studying machine because he wanted to be able to do everything he needed to save his family. He had given up the mask and he decided that if he couldn’t be out there by their side, protecting them then no matter how bad the injuries would be he was determined to have the knowledge on how to save them. Their family was growing and with Tim spending more time with the team and Damian now out in the field there was a good chance that one of them could end up hurt, they were human and no matter how strong their minds were, their bodies were breakable, no amount of training and body armor could change the fact that they were human underneath it all, and humans were fragile compared to the rest of the league, all it took was one lucky hit somewhere and they could be in real danger and when that time came he would be there, ready.

Jason had always been smart, he was able to comprehend things quickly and he was able to retain a large amount of knowledge. He had learned languages by listening to the several different types of people around him and he was able to pick up everything that Batman taught him along with a vast amount of medical knowledge he had learned from Bruce treating him to Alfred treating the people around him so when Jason no longer needed to worry about school and his night time activities he was able to dedicate a large amount of time to learning and he was learning fast.

When he first came to the hospital he had been nervous and excited. He had studied the theory extensively and he knew he would be able to handle seeing blood and bodies. He knew he would be able to succeed in surgeries. Jason had steady hands and with his mind so focused on what he wanted he forgot his name and the burdens that came with being a Wayne in Gotham. He knew he would be able to do this but when he was hit by the sheer criticism coming from his so called superiors he was actually a bit shocked, then angry and then he just didn’t give a damn. They didn’t think that he was actually able to earn his place here, they were all so sure that Bruce had pulled some strings to get him into this place, that he wouldn’t be able to keep up but it wasn’t the first time that he had been looked down on and he ignored them.

He focused on learning and while he was out proving himself without trying because he never gave anyone the chance to question his place here to his face, he came across someone the same age as him in the hospital and she was bloody gorgeous. He first came across her when she was passed out in one of the break rooms, her raven coloured hair was splayed out all around her and she seemed to out cold over her homework. Jason had fallen asleep in the position many times however when she woke up she stared at him and then she glared with so much hatred in her eyes he nearly took a step backwards and he had stood up to the bat glare without blinking.

It was only then that he realized that this was one of the private break rooms which the doctors got when they needed to crash after surgeries, her mentor probably gave her key and she didn’t lock the door, in his defense he still didn’t know the place all that well, private and common rooms were placed both close to each other and far apart depending on which floor you were on and he was also sleep deprived. The woman who passed out was currently wearing a semi-transparent camisole and scrubs. She probably thought he was some sort of pervert. She had woken up to the feeling of eyes on her body and the first person she saw was a huge wall of muscle. He tried apologizing however she took one look at him and realized that he was one of the Wayne boys and she snubbed him. 

Her name was Amara Knight and she wasn’t really anyone of importance unless you were looking at her IQ. Amara had twin sister, mother died in childbirth and father died when they were three in a car accident. They were then raised by their paternal grandfather who passed away when they were 15 from old age. The old man had been a doctor who served in the army during World War II and he probably gotten her involved in medicine. Amara had been tested when she six years old, her IQ was measured at 132 which labeled her as a having superior intelligence. Her grandfather didn’t bother about her childhood instead he pushed her hard to reach her goals; she graduated high school at the age of 11 and then spent her time in the medical field. Jason had researched her using the Bat resources, he was curious and he wanted to be sure that she wasn’t someone that he needed to be wary of because they were going to be spending a lot of time together.

She could have been a doctor however she chose to be a nurse, he didn’t know why all he did know was that every time the two of them were in the same room they started fighting and no he didn’t know what they were fighting about, just that they were and it was commonly known throughout the hospital that the two resident geniuses bickered worse than an old married couple. Jason couldn’t stand her because even after all this time where he proved that he wasn’t just here because of daddies money she still wouldn’t give him a break so he challenged her, he pushed and he prodded and he looked for her mistakes but the woman was bloody stubborn and even when she messed up she refused to make same mistake twice. She pushed him back just as hard made him look twice, think thrice before tying him in knots and then she laughed not with maliciousness but with glee that he was able to keep up. 

The two had a love-hate relationship where they didn’t let each other get away anything yet they also made the best team that the hospital had seen in a long time. The two demanded excellence when it came to their work and they were able to read each other well when working together, they were both bloody intelligent but outside the work room the two just pushed each other’s buttons so much that there was currently a bet going around about when they would just cave in already and kiss, most of the staff believed that their problem was sexual tension. Jason refused to believe any of their shit, he was more likely to strangle the frustrating woman than kiss her, and he conveniently forgot how beautiful he thought she was until she opened her damned mouth even though in his mind he had compared her to an angel but hey he could always blame sleep deprivation.

Amara was a bright, independent hard working young woman. She and her sister had purple coloured eyes, however Amara’s dark coloured hair came from their father while Anna her twin sister had their fathers red hair. The two girls were very different, Amara had been pushed hard by their grandfather however she had thrived under the pressure and she had worked very hard to get to where she is currently but Anna had always been more timid than her sister. She had been used to being put in second place because their grandfather mostly spent his time on her elder sister but Anna had a very kind and gentle nature.

She never got jealous instead she took great pride in her sisters achievements and supported her. Anna was a mothering type of person, she spent most of their childhood cooking, cleaning and taking general care of the people around her while Amara lost herself to her books. Anna was smart, not on the level of her sister however she did well in school and managed to get her GED at the age of 14. She hated being in school without her sister and she was determined that if she couldn’t do as well then she would do better than average afterwards she turned her attention to teaching. Anna loved children and she loved having people to take care of, she was a kindergarten teacher. She loved baking and cooking and honestly sometimes she wished Anna would get married to someone and be a house wife with a ton of kids because her sister was so warm and kind, she deserved that whole white fence perfect family stuff you see on tv. When the world around her got too tough to deal with Amara usually hid in her sisters arms and it was the closest thing to a mothers arms she ever had when she was younger. 

Anna deserved the world and she wasn’t shy, not really, she was quiet, she never felt the need for the spotlight or to be the center of attention. Anna loved reading and music and dancing, she was a very simple sort of person. She had been out a few times but many the guys she dated found her too boring for their tastes, she wasn’t a flashy person but Amara worshipped her sister, she was the only family that she had however don’t let her kind face fool you, Anna was stubborn with a strong mind and even stronger morals. She fought for the things she believed in and she was ruthless when it came to protecting her family, they both were however Anna wasn’t currently on her mind right now, she was constantly pissed at Jason Todd-Wayne recently.

She knew he wasn’t an airhead but every time he opened his big mouth all she wanted to do was punch him in the face. She couldn’t help it! Jason Todd-Wayne may only be 19 years old but he was all man something that she could appreciate. She was a living breathing woman and someone would have to be blind not to see that he was one fine piece of ass but he wasn’t just good eye candy the man was dedicated to learning everything that he could and he learned fast for someone who had not dedicated years of studying this field. She had been so sure that he would be here on daddies money not on his own merit and she hated it when she was wrong about people and boy was she wrong about him.

Amara knew the Wayne family, you cannot live in Gotham and not know the Wayne family and according to all sources she was able to get her hands on Bruce Wayne, was a self-entitled rich little brat who thought with his second head, Dick Grayson-Wayne the prodigal son was a ladies man and charmer just like his adoptive father, Jason Todd-Wayne was a street rat who got lucky and was milking his injuries which were not severe as Wayne tried to get the press to believe, Tim Drake-Wayne was a child genius who was studying business and Damian Wayne the illegitimate son, well no one knew anything about him. Amara knew better than to believe everything you read especially when it came to gossip rags but none of them ever tried to prove the media wrong so it was all she had to go on.

She wanted to hate Jason for being a self-entitled brat but he wasn’t, she thought that he didn’t have the brains to keep up and he proved her wrong and now she didn’t even know why he rubbed her wrong way, everything about him just out her on edge, like she should be careful for some reason yet she trusted him enough to work by his side, the man was an enigma one that she kept prodding at because she wanted to understand him and every time she thought she got close to something it just disappeared into thin air. It was frustrating and annoying and it made her defensive and they just kept bickering over nothing and it was kind of fun and tiring at the same time. No one ever man had ever been able to challenge her the way he did.

Amara opened the door to the break room and found Jason in the middle of changing something that never happened before. A lot of the staff kept extra scrubs lying around because sometimes you got covered in blood, mucus or sweat. Most of them wore thin vests inside their clothes and just changed the outer layers whenever they felt they needed a change however in the past year that she had known him no one ever managed to see him change. Many of the women in the hospital wanted to know just how well he was built because he was a large muscled man but Jason never allowed anyone to really see anything underneath his scrubs and now Amara knew why.

The thin white vest was no-where near enough to cover the scars that covered his torso, they were thick, well healed however the scarring was extensive on his back especially and in that moment she knew that everything that the media had printed of his accident was wrong. One didn’t get scars like that from just an explosion, there was a lot more to his story than he was telling the world however pity wouldn’t come, it would be an insult to the man that she knew instead she spoke, “Your brother is here again, down in the cafeteria.”

Jason froze when the door opened, he hadn’t expected anyone to come in here but no one said anything so he assumed everything was fine until he heard her speak, of all people it just had to be her that opened the bloody door but no questions came so Jason pretended the incident never happened.

He groaned when she told him that Dick was downstairs again, “You know he is only coming here hoping to bump into the red head again right?”

Amara raised an eyebrow, “Red hair purple eyes about this tall?” She was pointing out her own height of 5’7’’ which compared to his own 6’2’’ he sort of towered over her.

Jason just nodded his head and she smiled sweetly, “If Anna decides by some miracle that she wants to give him a chance I will bury him if he hurts her.”

Jason just rolled his eyes at her defensive tone and snapped back at her, “Dick isn’t a bad person and he definitely wouldn’t hurt a woman.” 

Amara immediately put her claws away, this was Jason the baby brother protecting his sibling, she would never use that against him and she replied, “Look I didn’t mean that he would physically hurt her so calm down I meant emotionally. Your brother is known for being a playboy, for partying and flashy stuff, Anna isn’t like that. She likes sitting home and watching movies, baking and cooking even reading. She’s a kindergarten teacher, she would get hurt if your brother got bored of her.” 

Jason immediately relaxed as well, “I didn’t mean to imply anything just he isn’t as bad as you think, none of us really are. Being the sons of Bruce Wayne puts us in the spotlight but we aren’t just the people that you see. He wouldn’t purposely hurt her and he would never be unfaithful.”

“Well as touched as I am by you protecting my back Jay I’m not here for a friendly visit though I do believe its only fair that I actually get a chance to know her before you decide how I would feel for her.”

Amara and Jason whirled around to see Dick lounging in the doorway looking really amused but his eyes were serious and Amara just knew that his mind was somewhere else on something else.

“What do you want D?” sighed Jason.

“Need you to go to Damian’s school and deal with whatever bullshit is happening there.” Replied Dick.

Jason narrowed his eyes and replied, “Seriously? You’re right here.”

Dick sighed, “Alfred is at the dentist, Bruce is with Clark out of town, Tim is underage and cannot go to a school meeting and Malcolm called for me to help him. I’m already running late and I don’t have the time to sit through the meeting.”

Since they were in front of a civilian Alfred really was the dentist, Bruce was working on something with the Justice League, Tim was probably at the Mountain and Dick was probably needed to give them their mission briefing as Nightwing. 

“I’ll get Damian don’t worry.” Replied Jason.

Dick was about to leave when he turned and narrowed his eyes at Jason, pulled out a candy bar and threw it to him, “You need to eat more before B sets Alfred on you, play nice with principle please Jay, he does actually like the school most of the time.” With that Dick disappeared and Jason gave Amara half a smile and went to fetch Damian, he couldn’t wait to find out why he lost his shit this time, Damian was usually really good at keeping his head down at school and sticking to the rules B made for him once he argued his way out of the ones he didn’t like. 

Later that evening when Amara was finally able collapse onto her couch as her sister brought over a glass of wine, she finally had the chance to have a good sisterly bonding session, “I spoke to Jason today.” She said.

Anna nearly choked on the sip of wine, “When you say ‘spoke’ you mean an actual conversation where neither of you ended up screaming at each other?”

Amara rolled her eyes at her twin, “Yes. We spoke about his brother, the one that keeps coming to the hospital to flirt with you.”

Anna blushed when her sister mentioned him, “He doesn’t mean anything by it.”

Amara raised both her eyebrows, “Are you crushing on Dick Grayson-Wayne?”

Anna blushed harder and rolled her eyes, “Are you finally admitting that you and Jason have a thing for each other?”  
“Anna!”

The woman chuckled and sipped her wine, “He is really nice Mara, funny too but it probably isn’t worth it. He’ll get bored eventually and move on so I rather not get my hopes up.”

Amara narrowed her eyes at her sisters tone, the woman was beautiful however when they were younger she had a boyfriend who basically just thought of her as arm candy, there was an ugly fight where things that were said couldn’t be taken back after that happened Anna didn’t have much confidence in herself believing that guys only wanted her because she was pretty not because they actually cared for her. Amara had a similar experience however she wasn’t as soft hearted as her sister, Anna really cared about the guy, he was her first love, Amara never really experienced love or maybe she just didn’t let anyone that close to protect herself she was never really sure but one thing she was sure of was that her sister was smitten.

Amara remembered Dick when he gave his brother a snack and telling him to go easy on the principle, as much as the media portrayed him as a playboy who didn’t care about the hearts he broke Amara saw a little of what was hidden underneath, he cared for his siblings very much and then his words echoed in her ears, he was a man who believed in people measuring his worth based on his own actions because he was very serious when he told her that it wasn’t fair that she was telling him what he would and wouldn’t like in a long term relationship and as much as she wished to protect her sister, she had to make her own choices. Anna wanted him and he wanted her but only time would tell if the needed each other or not but that was something only they could decide.

“Go out with him the next time he asks.” Said Amara and Anna dropped the remote.

“Are you serious? You’re the one who told me he was a playboy.” Replied Anna.

Amara picked up the remote and went back to channel surfing, “That’s what the media says and it’s a gossip rag Anna. Look I didn’t say marry him, I said go on a date, just one. If you don’t like it or aren’t happy or comfortable then he will leave you alone or he asks you out again and you say no but at least you gave it a try.”

“What if he doesn’t like me?”

Amara nearly wanted to strangle the moron who made her sister doubt herself like this but she didn’t allow any anger to show on her face, her sister hated it when she got angry about the past and she didn’t want Anna to feel bad and not talk to her when she needed to vent so she just replied, “Then its his loss. Look the guy is trying really hard for a date, just go on one, we both know you really want too.”

“If I say yes to a date will you ask Jason out on a date?” asked Anna and this time it was Amara who nearly choked on the wine.

“I said we spoke without trying to kill each other, I never said we were besties or even dating.”

“But you admit that you like him.”

Amara nearly wanted to scream, she should have known that this would end up the way the conversation would go if she mentioned him.

“I admit that there is more to him than I thought.” Replied Anna and her sister just rolled her eyes at her muttering that she was stubborn.

“I’ll think about saying yes.” Said Anna and Amara just smiled at her and the two women settled in for their movie night the conversation definitely wasn’t over but for now Anna was willing to just give it a rest.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Anna didn’t really take her sister seriously when she was told to give the guy a chance. She said she would think about it and really she did, she thought about it a lot but in the end she just couldn’t find the courage to say yes. Now while she knew she was pretty she just didn’t think that she would be able to keep with Dick Grayson-Wayne’s lifestyle. He would get bored of her quickly and then she would be left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart because a guy like him she could herself falling in love with a guy like him.

She wasn’t talking about the money or his looks she was talking about the shy smile he had on his face when she blushed or the way his eyes would light up when he saw his brother. Anna worked with children, most of them were open and honest about their feelings, but when it came to someone like Dick his true emotions were seen through tiny movements that people usually over looked. Dick was a family person at his core and that was someone she could fall in love with someday, a person who cared about other people and put his family first, but he was also a celebrity and that meant that they came from different worlds. She didn’t think she would fit in and even though she had weighed the pro’s and the cons in her head a million times when he asked her out for coffee just one cup, she couldn’t help but listen to the voice in her head that sounded and awful lot like her sister and she said yes. What harm could one cup of coffee do?

He asked about her work, why she chose to be a teacher, her favourite books and movies and surprisingly he did read and they were able to debate Harry Potter for an hour before she had to dash because she was late for an appointment. She gave him her number but she didn’t expect a call as fun as the date had been it had been incredibly boring compared to the others he went on. Anna read the magazines and newspapers, she knew he had dated Barbara Gordon on and off for a while and there were pictures of the two at fancy parties and awards functions even rumors that they had gone off on vacations to places like France and other private islands owned by his adoptive father and compared to all of that to their single coffee date, where they got into an argument about whether or not Snape really was a bad guy in Harry Potter was quiet boring. Anna couldn’t help being a nerd, she liked reading about superheroes and she adored fantasy movies like Harry Potter, she also loved mythology, Greek, Egyptian and Norse. She was even considering taking a few history courses at college, though she would need to save up for it so she didn’t expect a phone call.

Saturday night found Anna in comfy sweatpants, sports bra and her hair tied into a messy knot on her head while she read a history book the Roman Empire. Her sister was currently at the hospital working another shift so Anna was home alone. She sighed as looked at the place around her, when she worked on something she usually turned her floor into a war path which only she knew where everything was, several books were piled around her, with her laptop open to several different pages and there was a bag of chips open. She groaned she just couldn’t stop thinking about him even though she knew that he probably wasn’t going to call again. 

She turned off the laptop and went to shower and then she was going to pass out for a few hours, it wasn’t even that late but at least if she was sleeping then she wouldn’t be worrying over her stupid crush anymore. Anna wrapped herself in her towel and ran to answer the phone it was probably just Amara she had texted her sister before her shower telling her that she was turning in for the night and if she wanted supper she left it in the microwave. Not really sure why her sister would be calling, she answered without even looking at the number.

“Hi Anna.”

Anna nearly dropped the phone, he actually called and then she turned to the clock it was only 9pm, not that late but kind of late to arrange another date for now.

“Hey uhm how are you?” She hated the sentence basically reeked with confusion.

“I’m fine, everything’s fine. I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, things got a bit crazy here at home but I wanted to know if you were free for lunch tomorrow. I’m sorry its kinda last minute.”

Anna bit her lip, he actually wanted a second date, part of her wanted to ask what kind of game he was playing but the other part knew that he didn’t play with people’s feelings but she still didn’t know what he saw in her, they were just so different.

“I am but are you sure…?” her question kind of just trailed off, she wasn’t really sure how to explain what she was trying to ask him but he didn’t really notice or if he did he didn’t say anything, he just replied with, “Great, that’s great. I’ll pick you up at 1. Dress casual nothing fancy I promise. I have to go but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Anna turned to her closet to find something to wear while in the Watchtower, Nightwing face palmed while Black Canary laughed at him.

Dick had been shocked when she accepted his offer to go for coffee since both their siblings were too busy to leave the hospital, every other time she politely turned him down. She was a little quiet a first so he started asking questions, telling her of his time as a cop in Bludhaven and then coming back to Gotham and that it didn’t work out here so he was helping his Father with some stuff. She knew he was talking about the Fida Foundation, they discussed some movies and then she told him her favourites were Harry Potter and somehow they ended up debating and for Dick it had been one of the most relaxing and enjoyable lunches he had in a long time.

She didn’t treat him like a celebrity like many of his other dates; rather she spoke to him as a person interested in his thoughts and feelings. She was quiet and polite at first, as they spoke about things that didn’t really matter but when they started discussing normal activities like sibling rivalry and books that they liked or hated her eyes would light up with fire and passion. She wasn’t a person who spent much time on pleasantries she kept a cool and polite façade unless she was really interested in what they were talking about unless it was something they could really talk about. It was normal, it was good to just be Dick, not a celebrity, not a hero or a prize just a person and she was able to give him that, a bit of peace.

Then there was the whole drama of aliens kidnapping people for only God knows what and Nightwing had his hands busy with the team for a little while and as time passed he couldn’t find the time to call and actually set up another bloody date and then there was Alfred who at the back of all their minds saying, “Gala is in a month young masters, you all need dates.” And a part of him really wanted to take Anna but he also knew that she would never just agree to something like that unless she was actually even a little bit serious about him. Black Canary had seen him hovering over the call button and remarked that he never had dating trouble in the past and the only thing that could come to mind was the fact that there was something different about her. He just knew in his gut that she was the kind of person that would only be with him if he was worth it and she wouldn’t settle for less. She was making work to be with her and well it had been a long time since someone had been able to pull out any sort of emotion from him.

Dick knocked on her apartment door 10 minutes late. In his head he was cursing Jason for laughing at him while he tried to find something to wear, Tim for laughing at him being nervous and Damian who looked like he sucked a lemon because well Dick wasn’t sure why Damian was fussing, maybe because none of them dated before and he didn’t know how this would impact the family or something and then there was Bruce who gave him the ‘be careful of the civilian’ look and blessing Alfred for shooing them all away and handing him an ironed shirt. If he hadn’t he probably would still be home.

Anna opened the door wearing a summer dress with floral print. It was white with red flowers on it and she was wearing flats. Her long hair was in loose curls and she smiled brightly at him when she opened the door. She had previously been worrying about whether or not he was going to stand her up and when she opened the door there he was wearing blue jeans and a smoky grey shirt that made his blue eyes just pop. She wondered for a moment if she should just take a picture because he looked illegally good.

He took her to the park for a picnic and it was probably the most perfect date she had ever had in her life. He spoke more about his brothers and their family dynamics without giving away any very personal details. He told her of why he went to Bludhaven and how he was trying to find himself, trying to escape his adoptive fathers name and the pressure that came with it. 

“You speak very highly of your adoptive father.”

Dick smiled a bit sheepishly, “He didn’t really know to be a dad but he wasn’t really trying to replace the one I lost. He just saw a bit of himself in me I guess. What about your family?”

Anna smiled and spoke of her sister and how proud she was of her, “It was lonely at first, when Mara started to get lost to her books, Grandpa was old he didn’t have a lot of time for me but every morning he made breakfast and sat with me, it wasn’t much but it meant a lot to me that he put aside that time just to be with me. I spent a lot of time baby sitting in the neighborhood while my sister studied its how I discovered my love of children.”

They started seeing each other more after that even though Anna was still a bit hesitant, there had been times when Dick would stand her up or he wouldn’t be able to make it to a meeting and he would cancel on her but he always had some sort of excuse for it. Amara didn’t like it when her sister confided in her, Dick had treated her sister well and he made her happy but his behavior was a bit weird especially for someone who tried so hard to keep the relationship stable and always tried to tell Anna that he cared for her. Amara had no idea what to tell Anna the man just seemed to bounce between hot and cold so often she didn’t know what to say most days.

Anna and Amara finally had some time to go out together and to do some shopping. The two sisters were rarely ever off at the same time nor did they ever have time for a girls day out and truthfully speaking Anna previously had plans with Dick. They were supposed to go see a movie together and he ended up cancelling at the last minute again. Anna didn’t think much of it because he told her that he was stuck in a meeting with some other foundations so for once he actually had a good reason to cancel or at least she thought he did.

Anna paused as she saw Dick sitting at a table in a restaurant with a raven haired woman. She had blue eyes and she was dressed in a blue dress. The two seemed to having a serious discussion about something and for a moment she believed that it was probably a business thing until he placed a jewelry box on the table in front of her. It was big enough that it probably wasn’t a ring but it was definitely something expensive and the woman opened it and smiled brightly at him nodding her head. Anna didn’t wait to see anymore and Amara just looked at him in disappointment. He hadn’t even seen them yet. Jason told her that his brother never cheated but it seemed like he was wrong.

Anna didn’t say a word nor did she cry, she just carried on walking past and if she had been looking like her sister was then she would have seen Dick freeze at seeing her, smile falling off his face as he apologized and ran out of there after her.

“Anna!” both woman turned at the sound of her name however Anna motioned for her sister to carry on without her. It was probably best that they have this conversation in as much privacy as possible in a crowded mall.

“Yes?” she didn’t throw a tantrum nor did she start furiously whisper out her argument to try and get people to listen without trying to make it seem like she was trying to get attention, attention that they were drawing since people recognized him. She was just cold to him without making a scene which was something that she could have caused if she were a woman interested in fame. 

He noticed the photographer when he sat down with Zatanna. He hated to cancel on Anna again but he needed to ask Zatanna to charm the necklace that Artemis would wear when she went undercover, he wasn’t even 100% sure that they would even play that card just yet but it was best for him the thing in case they needed to send her undercover quickly. He didn’t know how long it would take her so he got a necklace and gave it to her. He also knew that there was a man was taking as many pictures as he could right now and he would have Bruce destroy whatever story they were cooking because there was no way in hell was he throwing Anna to jackals that was the media.

“That wasn’t what it looked like.” He winced at how cliché that sounded, just the words the cheating boyfriend would use to try and get out of the situation where he had gotten caught cheating.

“Then what was it?” she asked, still perfectly polite not indicating her anger at all even though her tone could probably freeze hell.

“Zatanna is an old friend. She promised to help me with something in return for the necklace.” Dick was sweating, his excuses were weak and they both knew it.

Anna just sighed looking like she really didn’t believe him in the slightest, “Look whatever is going on in your life there is obviously some part of your life that you cannot bring to let me in and considering how little time we’ve spent together maybe its for the best we just end it now.”

Dick was shocked, she was just giving him a way out that would probably be the cleanest break up he could ever ask for but he just couldn’t let her go, he didn’t want to let her go.

“I want you to come to the Wayne Gala with me Anna.”

“Huh?”

“I know things haven’t been stable, I’ve been busy but I am serious about you about us and I want you to be part of my life. I’m not good at letting people in but I promise I would never be unfaithful. The Wayne Gala is one of the most important events in the family currently and I want to tell the world that I’m yours, that the prodigal son is taken or whatever the press want to come up with. I am serious about being with you.”

Anna didn’t know what to say to that so she just said, “I need time to think about it and I think you need to think about what you just said.”

Anna basically fled without making it seem like was running but she had no idea how to respond to all this, he was asking for something very serious without actually thinking it through. Anna knew that he said those things because he was half serious, he was trying to make her understand that he really did care but he was going too far, she couldn’t announce to the world that they were a couple when he didn’t share all the parts of who he is with her.

“Go to the Gala but don’t announce anything. Being by his side will send enough messages and see if he is willing to share some of his secrets with you.”

That was the advice from her sister but she still didn’t know, the Gala was this weekend and she still hadn’t spoken to him.

“Anna you cannot be freaking out in here. Just make a choice already!” Huffed Amara, she loved her sister she did but ever since Dick had asked her to go to that damned Gala with him, she had spent nearly every waking moment over thinking everything. The two sisters were currently in the hospital cafeteria having lunch. It had been five days since the incident in the mall and Amara wasn’t really sure if her sister had even spoken to Dick again. The party was in two days, time was literally running out.

Jason sat down next to them and passed over a stack of paperwork to Amara and just as he was about to leave Anna had an idea, “Come with me. I’ll go if you come with me. I need the moral support in that crowd.”

Amara rolled her eyes, “I am not going to that Gala especially dateless.”

Anna smirked, “Go as Jason’s date. The last time I spoke to Dick he said Jason didn’t have a date yet and he didn’t get angry that I didn’t have an answer yet for him.”

Jason just looked like a deer in headlights, “Why am I getting involved in this?”

Anna rolled her eyes, “Dick and I spoke, we agreed that we need to put in more effort, which we will be doing but I still don’t know about the whole media thing but if my sister was there I think I could handle it and basically everyone is drowning in sexual tension when you two walk into a room.”

Amara just shook her head and then Anna’s smirk turned vicious, “You owe me. I’m calling in that favor you owe me and Jason needs a date and he wants to be a good brother and help his brother. So you will be coming for the Gala, talk it over with Jason while I tell Dick that my attendance depends on his brother.”

Anna left her sister stunned and speechless, the truth was that two days ago she went and spoke to Dick. They both were more calm and rational and they both had time to think over everything that happened. Dick had told her why he liked her, he liked the way she made him feel, it was like being human, and she expected nothing from him but honesty. When he was with her things seemed a bit better and the weight of all the burdens didn’t seem as heavy, it was easier for him to breathe. There was no pressure, no faking anything, just two people doing things that made them happy with people who made them happy.

Anna understood him a bit better and while she always knew why she liked him it was heartwarming to hear that he didn’t just like her for her beauty or thought that she was just another piece of arm candy. He promised to make more time for her but he also agreed with her that it was probably a very bad idea to announce to the world that they were in a serious relationship. He knew better honestly but she did agree to go as his date for the Gala and then they both agreed to do something else.

They were both tired of their siblings and their stubbornness. Everyone could see that the two liked each other so they were forcing them to go on a date even if it was a date to a fancy Gala and Anna was not joking when she spoke about needing moral support. Dick laughed at her and told her that he too had felt like a fish out of water the first time Bruce had taken him to one of the fancy parties but as long as she could dance she would be just fine. Dick already got the sisters dresses which would match their suits and they were going to force the issue of their relationship. If at the end of the night the two still believed that they hated each other then fine, they would leave them alone but honestly they just needed a little push and maybe a dance or two and they could really have something good going one day Anna was sure her sister would thank her.


	10. Authors note

Ok so before I post the actual chapter I felt like I needed to address something one of my reviewers commented and told me that they didn’t like my OC Amara because she was arrogant and bitchy and that Jason deserved better. Here’s there deal, she’s supposed to be that way at first. I am person who completely believes that we are influenced and changed the people we meet whether it is in a big way or small way and being in a relationship with someone changes you depending on how serious or sometimes even how little effort you put into the relationship. 

Anna and Amara are both written in a way that portrays both their flaws as people as much as I am capable to convey as a writer. Anna is a person who was once told by someone she believed loved her that she was nothing but a pretty face, that she was boring and that she had nothing going for other than her beauty. It makes her second guess herself and have self-worth issues something that since meeting Dick Grayson-Wayne happens a lot. Dick is a person who is a celebrity was a Wayne, he is portrayed as a person who loves the fast life and has high profile dates and she doesn’t know about Nightwing yet. She is going to have to face Barbara who she sees as the person who was easily able to fit in with the high society life and thinks that she fits his image better. She is going to have to face her own thoughts and decide whether or not Dick is a person that she is willing to fight for, she has to grow a spine and take what she wants, something that she will do as she grows as a person with Dick.

Amara is a person who values her intelligence above all. She was always the best and she worked hard to reach where she is now going so far as to sacrificing her childhood and social life. She is jealous of Jason in a way and is too stubborn to admit when she’s wrong. She also doesn’t know how to deal with people very well because she never had friends. She prized her intelligence and goals so high that she lost her chance at having real relationships with people other than her sister. She is also a bit naïve, she’s lived in her books for so long she doesn’t understand the real world which Jason understands very well. She has a lot of personal growth to go through before she and Jason become a couple but Jason is also a very damaged person. He feels emotions very deeply and he builds walls around himself to keep people other than his family out. They’re kind of opposites and that’s why they have so much to learn from each other. They will act as grounding points for each other eventually.

I hope this helps readers understand the direction I want their relationships to go in, its not just immediately fall in love, take off the mask and live happily ever after. They will fight, apologize, and grow as individuals and as couples.

Amara22.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Amara was staring at her sister who was currently packing an overnight bag. Dick invited Anna and Amara to stay the night with them; they were supposed to show up for Dinner with the family, allowing both girls to get to know the Wayne family without the camera’s, press and the guests. They were also going to be given an overview of the night as well as the guest list. This was never something that they usually did. Dick looked very embarrassed as he stood in their living room trying to explain.

“Bruce becoming a Trillionaire kind of caused more attention than we realized, we need to make sure the event goes off as smoothly as possible. We can’t afford for anything to go wrong even Bruce is going to behave himself.”

Anna smiled at the memory of his sheepish expression even though he once confided in her and told her that everything that had been happening recently had been really stressing him out. When Bruce was usually invited to these fancy parties everyone already knew what to expect from him but with this new status especially since he was the first person in the world to reach this height, several businesses which previously had no interest in the company were now looking towards them and Bruce had to behave and make contacts. He needed to make a good impression and Alfred was running a tight ship.

“I thought he left all the business stuff to his CEO.” Replied Anna trying to understand.

“Bruce does, he always insists that he doesn’t have a head for business and he really doesn’t but he is the face of the business. He has to make a good impression on these people then he can turn them over to Lucius. We all promised to be on our best behavior, when its something important we can take it seriously none of us ever really bothered to do before.”

Anna was nervous, they would be busy all day tomorrow and she probably wouldn’t even see Dick all that much once she was done meeting the family, “If things get too crazy you can always hide behind one of my siblings.” Dick promised her but as he spoke of this huge event she couldn’t help but be nervous and slightly terrified to do this, she was grateful that her sister was going to be there.

“I can’t believe that you’re trying to set me up with him of all people!”

Amara had been throwing a tantrum ever since they had gotten home, she hadn’t even spoken to Jason when Anna had left and she wasn’t packing. Anna finally had enough of this bullshit, she had two days to try and talk to the guy but all she had done was run away in the other direction and she was just so tired of it all.

“Why are being such a bitch?”

Amara froze at the direct confrontational question. Anna could be a very direct person when pushed, she was also the type of person who liked to avoid fighting. Anna did have a spine of steel something that she had buried under layers of self-worth issues after dating that bastard Drake but when she was pushed, well Amara would rather go a few rounds playing Q&A with Batman than her sister. She knew that there was no way the subject was going to be dropped especially now, Anna could be worse than a dog with a bone when she put her mind to something.

“I am not being a bitch Anna.” She replied defensively.

Anna rolled her eyes and zipped up her overnight bag, “Yes you are. When you found out about a young up and coming surgeon you already hated him and you hadn’t even met him. Then you found out he was a Wayne and decided he was a rich brat and you know it isn’t true. We both know that most of the stuff printed about that family is nothing but gossip. We both know that Jason Todd was taken from the streets of Gotham, we both know he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth and we both know he is the only person in that entire hospital that can keep up with you so I ask again what the fuck is wrong with you?”

Amara said nothing, she turned away from her sister and ignored her questions and Anna gasped, “You’re jealous of him.”

Amara gritted her teeth, she hated how well her sister knew her but she still tried to ignore her sister but she couldn’t, “Why would I be jealous?”

Anna sighed, “He stole your thunder Mara. You’re not the only genius doc around anymore. Is that why you’re so determined to hate him?”

“Its all that I have Anna, being the genius doctor is all that I have, he has his siblings, his adoptive father even his friends but that job, being the best at that job is the only thing that I had.”

Anna just sighed, “You are my sister Mara, I love you and I would probably die for you but that load of crap that just came out of your mouth is the most selfish petty stupid thing that I have ever heard you say in my entire life.”

“Anna how can you say that?”

Anna rolled her eyes, “You have spent your whole life in those books of yours that you honestly think that without being the only genius doc in town that you’re no one? Now whose the person with self-worth issues? You aren’t being fair to him, he’s had a hard life and he works hard for what he has and he can keep up with you, the only man in the whole world that probably can meet up to your impossible standards is standing right in front of you but you just can’t swallow your pride and actually get to know him. I never thought you would be the coward nor did I think that you were so bloody shallow. Come or don’t come I don’t really care anymore but I hope you find a way to get your head out of your ass. I always looked up to you but right now I have never been so disappointed to call you my sister in my life.”

Anna slammed the door as she left and Amara crumpled. She knew she wasn’t being fair to him, she wasn’t stupid, she could see how hard he studied and that he had earned his place. She also knew that she was just fishing for excuses to hate him. Amara wasn’t good with people, she spent all her time trying to get her Grandfather to say he was proud of her but he never did, every time she succeeded all her ever did was tell her to set her sights further, that she could do better, that she would be able to be more if she just worked a little bit harder and she kept trying kept reaching further and further ignoring the fact that she was lonely, she never had any friends. When she was supposed to be having play dates she was busy passing middle school, when she should have been discovering boys and make up she was already in university.

She struggled to make friends or even find someone that she could talk to that wasn’t her sister. The people in her classes didn’t take her seriously and then they were intimidated or jealous or they just didn’t like the fact that a twelve year old was keeping up with them. She never had a friend who wasn’t her sister and she knew that Jason kept up with her, challenged her, they even had a few good laughs before they both put up their walls. Her people skills sucked but she hated when her sister was right and she sort of did promise to be there if not for him then for her sister. She was going to have to swallow her pride and apologize and she hated it. She checked the time and realized that was brooding for at least two hours. It was 7, and if she remembered then dinner was at 8, if she hurried then she might be able to make it.

*Friday morning Wayne Manor (Same day around the same time that Anna and Amara were talking)*

Tim Drake-Wayne was not happy, actually he was feeling good before he returned home. The team had been taking on some important missions lately and so far he had been performing well and then Damian reminded him of the girls coming to dinner and immediately the kid went to kick the shit out of a punching bag. No-one was really sure what was up with Damian ever since he heard about Dick dating that girl and Jason and Amara doing whatever it was that Dick thought they were doing Damian had been weird but no matter what anyone tried to say he never actually said what the problem was. Tim was just annoyed that they would all have to watch their words in the house until they left.

Damian however was freaking out. As far as he could remember the last time, neither Jason nor Dick had ever met these sisters. He went digging through their files and he just knew that he had seen that girl before (he spied on Dick when he went to talk to her before she said yes and saw her), her hair was very distinctive and Damian was sure he had seen it. He spent nearly a day trying to remember her face before he realized that she was killed in an explosion when Two-Face blew up a building. He remembered her because her hair reminded him of his mother, but also because he had scrowled when a dark haired woman who looked eerily like her gathered her dead body into her arms and screamed, it was the first time he had heard a sound so pure of pain of losing a loved one. He hadn’t really understood then.

Anna had died in the explosion and he didn’t know what happened to her sister Amara afterwards but Damian was confused should he try and get Dick to stay away from her because she was going to die? Was that even still going to happen? A lot of stuff that was happening outside of their masks never happened the last time, in fact he knew that soon his father would have to go off world for the trial and he was still unsure of how Bruce Wayne was going to disappear for a few months again with so much attention on him.

He was also unsure about them, they were civilians and even though they hadn’t been let into the secret Dick was being really stubborn about her. There were many times when Bruce told him to maybe let her go but Dick was headstrong and Bruce didn’t want to push too hard, it was possible that he could end up in another fight over making his own choices. Dick was being careful but that wasn’t the point, Barbara was different, she wore a mask and she was still part of the family, Damian just could kick the feeling that this would be different for both his brothers and he was still unsure of how to treat them. If Dick or Jason really fell in love, going so far as to reveal the mask that Dick wore and by association his family could they trust them? Or would it be Dick who would be shattered when Anna eventually died in the explosion? Damian scrowled and hit harder, if one of these girls managed to win the heart of his brothers he would never let her die, because it would cause his brothers that pain, the pain he saw in the eyes of Amara when she gathered her sister into her arms, the pain he heard in that scream, it was something that haunted his dreams mostly because he hadn’t understood how someone could care for another human in that way until now.

“You alright Dami?” asked Tim.

Damian struggled not to roll his eyes, his brothers insisted on nicknaming the hell out of him even though he didn’t see the point but he just let it go, it wasn’t a battle worth fighting anymore.

“I am fine Tim, I just do not understand this.” Damian had slowly started to learn to explain why he was feeling angry or upset to his brothers and sometimes his father. His family wanted to understand him so that there would be no miscommunication, usually when it some little thing bothering them, they learned to talk to each other, it did help with the sibling bonding.

“This meaning?” prodded Tim.

Damian finally stopped hitting things and faced his brother fully, “The civilian sisters.”

Tim didn’t understand what Damian was thinking so he repeated, “This meaning?”

“What if our brothers fall in love and one of them dies? Can we even trust them with our secrets?”

Tim was glad that he sat down because if he wasn’t he probably would have landed on his ass, “Damian its way too early to be thinking about things like that. Dick has only been dating Anna for a month and Jason isn’t even dating Amara. There is no guarantee that anything more will come of this than a few more dates and parties.”

Damian sat down on the mats where he had been practicing, “But what if they lose someone they love?” 

Tim sighed, he had no idea why Damian had this idea in his head but he had to try and reassure him that his brothers weren’t going to lose anyone.

“Damian no one is going to die, if either or both relationships ever end up being that serious then we will protect them, they would be family but sometimes we lose the people that we love and it isn’t fair but its just the way things are but that doesn’t mean that we won’t try to protect them.”

Damian understood, kind of where Tim was coming from when he meant that sometimes they would lose people but they would fight to try and protect the people they cared about but that didn’t make him feel much better. Anna was dead in the previous timeline, she never met Dick, never dated him and maybe that would be why she ended up dead maybe now that she was with him the events that previously led up to her death would no longer happen. 

“Do we have to like them?” asked Damian and this time Tim laughed.

“You have to be polite but if you don’t like them then you don’t have too. Why don’t you go practice the violin for a while, look normal when she shows up.”

Damian nodded and left but Tim couldn’t help but wonder why Damian was so focused on the relationship that these girls shared with his brothers. Jason hadn’t really dated before but Dick had dated civilians, nothing ever very serious and Damian knew that his brother dated in the past so why was he so worried about these girls?

Tim wondered around the manor until he found himself in Bruce’s study and Bruce was just about to go down and get ready to meet these sisters that his sons were interested in, well Dick was interested in and actually dating Anna while Jason was swearing to whatever God existed that he would sooner strangle Amara than date her but well his sons were always a handful in and out of the mask.

“Is something wrong Tim?” ask Tim.

Bruce had tried to be more open with his sons so that they could try and talk to him when they had problems but it was sort of slow going, he wasn’t the best at advice but it help their relationship to know that even if he didn’t know how to help he was willing to listen.

“I just keep wondering why Damian is so worried about meeting these sisters. Aren’t they just dates, you know like every other girl Dick dated?”

Bruce sighed as he looked at Tim, he was so similar to himself but he also felt so much more deeply, the boy had so much potential, he was sure that one day Tim could probably be better than he ever could be but he wasn’t here to be thinking about his potential right now he needed to bounce some ideas off his son as well because he too had noticed something different when it came to Dick’s relationship with Anna. Bruce wasn’t even sure if it was a good or bad thing, at least not yet.

“So you noticed it as well then.”

Tim frowned not entirely sure as to what Bruce was talking about, “I was talking about Damian being worried about what would happen if one of them died or what would happen if they found out about the masks.”

If Bruce had less self-control he probably would have face palmed, “I didn’t know Damian was thinking that far but I meant Dick. He seems very invested in this relationship and not in the same way he was with Barbara.”

“What do you mean not the same way?” asked Tim.

Bruce closed the study door, he didn’t want to say anything that would probably make Dick upset, Barbara and his relationship was somewhat a very touchy subject and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with a fight from his eldest.

“Dick always believed he and Barbara would start dating and then they would live happily ever after. It was a very naïve outlook on the relationship. He was a person who was able to read people but Dick refused to look at both their flaws which was why he never realized that they wouldn’t work as a couple. This girl though, Dick understands very well how hard it would be to keep a relationship steady with her but he is still willing to try, something that he never tried before with anyone. Dick kept his relationships to people that he cared about but they weren’t fit in the long term something that he must have subconsciously known, he was trained to be a detective after all but this Anna he is putting a lot of effort into it.”

Tim nodded his head understanding what his adoptive father was talking about, “I noticed that he did seem different about being with her. Dick doesn’t run from challenges but she made him chase her for months before she gave him even a single date. Dick would have usually stopped trying after a while.”

“What is this with Damian now?” asked Bruce.

“He was worried about them falling in love and losing them or whether or not they could be trusted.” Replied Tim.

“Damian believes that for some reason these two ladies will be around for a long time for some reason.”

Tim just shrugged, “Do you think its because of how Dick talks about Anna?”

Bruce nodded his head, “Damian is a person who picks things up very quickly, its possible that he believes they will be around for a long time because Dick cares for her.”

“But Jason isn’t even dating the sister.” Tim reminded Bruce.

“But she does work with Jason, assisting him during surgery, its possible that even if they don’t date they will eventually become friends because they will be working together a lot. She will be in his life as a co-worker or a girlfriend if they do date.”

Tim just sighed, “What do you think?”

Bruce wanted to roll his eyes but he replied, “I think we need to meet them and figure out what it is about these girls that have three of my sons tied up in knots for different reasons.”

Tim walked to the door and was about to leave when he asked something else, “What if they do fall in love with civilians? Dick is fighting really hard for this, we might need to consider the possibility that things might go in an entirely different direction than the one that we’re both expecting.”

Bruce wanted to bang his head against the desk when Tim walked out the door. Bruce had the same thought in his head ever since his last conversation with Dick but he still wasn’t sure. It was probably one of the biggest decisions Dick would make and he wasn’t naïve enough to believe that Dick would make the decision on a whim but the possibility was knocking on the door and with Damian worrying for their safety Bruce couldn’t help but wonder how he and Talia could create a child so in tune with his emotions and that of the people around them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I dont have a very good idea on barbara and her character type but I want to make this clear I Am NOT BASHING HER. As teens especially towards the 18-22 age group we are not immune to jealous and pettiness but it is also something we are able to recognise and fix before it destroys us as we are more mature now. Its not a love triangle either. There will be some friction when the ex and current meet but she wont be a monster but she will have some moments of pettiness. Anna will have her own issues, like I said they're human, they make mistakes.

Chapter 11

Anna took a taxi to the Wayne Manor, the taxi paused at the gate and she rang the bell before someone opened the automatic gates and allowed them inside. As the taxi got closer to the front door Anna had to stop herself from letting her draw drop. She had seen it in pictures but in real life, it was as breathtaking as it was huge. She was probably going to get lost; she had a horrible sense of direction.

Dick was waiting for her outside the front door dressed in jeans and a shirt and standing next to him was an old man dressed in a suit. His arms were folded behind his back but his eyes they were warm and caring however there was a glint of steel in those eyes and she just knew that this man was no mere servant and he was no push over either. She swallowed before taking a deep breath and stepping out of the car. She wore skinny jeans and a sweater as well. Dick had told her to dress casual and she had, her long red hair was tied into a braid and she smiled nervously at them both.

“Hi, I’m Anna.”

“Good day Miss Anna.” Replied Alfred and Dick chuckled and spoke as well, “This is Alfred, he is our pseudo-grandfather.”

Anna smiled brightly at the older man and held out her hand for a shake, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Alfred. Dick told me a lot about you.”

Alfred shook her hand but he also hid a smile, there was something about this girl, as soon as she stood next to Dick his entire posture relaxed and Alfred had noticed it. Dick trusted her on a subconscious level and he wasn’t sure if he was even aware of it.

She followed Dick inside, as Alfred took her bag to her room. As soon as they stepped inside, Anna heard the sound of a violin and she followed it unconsciously. She found a young boy standing in the middle of a large Den and he was excellent. He was darker in complexion compared to Dick and Jason, it gave him an exotic sort of look, his hair was probably darker than her sisters and his eyes were closed as he played. He was playing Bach-Partita No. 2, Chaconne. Anna was amazed to see someone so young play that piece so well, it was a dramatic piece, the opening jagged, unease opening up to joy followed by unease once more. It was an emotionally tricky piece and some say it was one of the hardest pieces a violinist would ever play and it was especially hard to perfect but he was doing exceptionally well until the music went softer, he was unable to settle the music to bring it up to a dramatic enough conclusion. Anna felt his frustration as he couldn’t get it right and she spoke without thinking.

“Hold your breath and release and ease up. Your frustration is bleeding into the music.”

Damian locked eyes with her but he did as she told him, his emerald green eyes raked over her in curiosity and she had a feeling that he was challenging her, wondering whether or not she was competent in what she spoke of. Anna wasn’t very good, but she did babysit for a music instructor, his daughter taught her the basics and she helped her practice, usually giving her emotional support and reminding her to relax when the music didn’t sound right and to remember to feel the rhythm and listen to herself play. She was only a beginner player though and she hadn’t touched a violin in years.

“Relax your fingers, release the tension in your shoulders. Play from the beginning and remember to listen as you play, remember the rhythm, build the tension to your listeners for your dramatic climax.”

Damian played again when he started to get frustrated, she ran a finger on his spine reminding him to relax his grip and play and this time it was better, not a perfect as he wanted it to be but it was much closer to what he wanted.

“Thank you.” He said and she smiled brightly at him.

“My name is Anna and you play very beautifully.” She replied, his thanks to her was sincere she knew that but his tone showed that he was used to been spoke too as an equal, this was not an average 10 year old, the intelligence she saw in his eyes reminded her of Amara and she decided not to talk down to him.

“Damian the youngest.” He said as he shook her hand.

Dick wondered over and clapped and smiled at her so brightly Damian wondered if he was part puppy because he was sure that there should have been a tail wagging behind him.

“Where’s your sister Anna?” asked Dick and immediately Anna stopped smiling.

“It probably would have been for the best if we hadn’t forced them to agree to this whole date thing. Amara has some growing up to do.” She replied and she knew she had her sad face on and she really didn’t want to meet his family in the middle of her own sister drama she quickly continued., “I’ll apologize to Jason but I really don’t know if she’s going to come.”

Dick looked worried, “Did something happen?” and Damian left the Den, this seemed like one of those private couple moments that he shouldn’t be watching.

Anna sighed, “I never thought that she could be so bull headed. She has some issues to deal with and I promise its not Jason’s fault she’s acting like a bitch. When she pulls her head out of her ass maybe then she can talk to Jason and hopefully she’ll be able to apologize for her own actions personally.”

Dick just raised an eyebrow but he didn’t pry, she told him that her sister was being stubborn and that she had issues that wasn’t Jason’s fault but it was also obvious that she didn’t want to say what was bothering Amara. Dick knew that Anna was loyal to her sister she probably believed that it was her sister who made the mess due to her own actions so it was only fair that she be the one to explain her behavior. Dick just smiled and wrapped her in a hug.

“Its fine. Tim is going with his friend Stephanie from school and Damian is too young to take a date. If Jason needs a date even if its just as a friend then he can take Barbara, she’ll be here later as well.”

Anna didn’t really know how to feel about Barbara Gordon, she had never met her so he had no idea what she was like as a person. It was well known that she and Dick had been friends for years before their relationship had turned romantic. The romance had also been short though, about four or five months but then again she could be wrong. Dick told her that he and Barbara dated as well but made it clear that they were just friends now and that their relationship hadn’t worked so they ended it before it could sour their friendship. She was glad for his honesty but she honestly couldn’t help but be nervous to meet his entire family and his ex-girlfriend without any moral support. She cursed Amara in her head, Dick and Barbara had been the ‘golden couple’ and that was kind of a lot to live up to and here she was someone who hadn’t even known him for more than four months. It made her relationship feel insignificant compared to everything that they must have shared but she soldiered on. 

She met Tim Drake-Wayne next, she was in the next room, typing away on a computer with one hand and sipping coffee with the other and Dick sighed, “Timmy we talked about the caffeine. No more than three cups a day.”

Tim looked up and his first thought was beautiful, his second thought, was ‘damn I got caught again’ and the third was ‘since when does Dick look like that?’ before he put the cup down and smiled sheepishly at the woman standing next to Dick.

“Hi I’m Tim nice to meet you. Dick drop it I’m exhausted.”

Dick moved to go on some sort of lecture but Anna smiled brightly at him and responded, “Why don’t you take a nap on that couch? Its just after 5pm, you can nap for an hour and wake up with two hours to spare before dinner and you have to stop working.”

Dick closed his mouth when Tim nodded at her logic and lay down to nap ignoring Dick’s whisper of “how did you do that?”

Anna just looked at her boyfriend confused, “What do you mean?”

“You got Timmy to sleep, its nearly impossible to get him to sleep.”

Anna rolled her eyes, “You probably try to get him to sleep for the whole night, workaholics don’t sleep normally, they nap and wake up. Mara used to study all day and all night so I got into the habit of letting her work for four hours and making her sleep for one. It wasn’t healthy and it definitely wasn’t enough sleep but it did help her feel less tired and kept her brain alert. When it wasn’t exam time she slept more often. I just used the same logic.”

Dick frowned but he nodded, if he let Tim use that method he probably would get more sleep than usual which would probably do wonders for everyone in the house who was pretty sure that Tim was part vampire or something because seriously, this wasn’t healthy.

“Stephanie and Barbara are out. They’ll be back for dinner so you can meet them then and the only person left in the house is Bruce and he is..” Dick trailed off not knowing whether or not Bruce was in the Batcave or not. Batman would be taking the weekend off, there was no way to leave the manor come sundown without getting caught by a camera somewhere.

“I’m right here Dick.” Called a voice at the top of the stairs.

Anna’s first impression was large, Bruce Wayne was a tall, well-muscled man with a fake smile but it was his eyes that held her attention. This family was all about the little quirks that showed what they were really thinking or feeling and right now Bruce Wayne’s eyes had a glint of steel in them and he also had intelligent eyes. As much as he wore a fake smile and a dopey grin she knew this man did actually have a brain or at the very least he was cunning but she was sure that he was protective of his family.

“You must be the lovely Anna, you can call me Bruce.” He said as he shook her hand.

When Jason finally came down she took he aside, “I’m sorry for forcing the whole Amara thing, I thought that if you guys met somewhere other than that hospital then you would get along but I was wrong. I don’t know if she will come but if she does then you don’t have to take her.”

Jason just smiled and reassured her that he was fine but then he asked, “She really hates me doesn’t she?” and Anna nearly screamed in frustration.

“Mara has issues to deal with but none of them were your fault, I should have realized that before I tried to make everything better by forcing you guys to spend more time together but I want you to know that none of it is your fault. Its just Amara being pig headed.”

Anna didn’t want to tell Jason what Amara’s problem actually was because she didn’t think it was her place. Her behavior put them at odds with each other so it would be up to her to figure out how to fix it and that responsibility did not fall on Jason to try and make things better. Jason hadn't done anything wrong so Mara would just have to deal with the competition. 

The family gathered in the Den where they made small talk while waiting for dinner to be ready. Anna found herself explaining her love for children and how she ended up teaching at such a young age. 

“I knew what I wanted to do and I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

She spoke about music with Damian, while Bruce thanked her for getting Tim to sleep, it was approaching half past seven when the doorbell rang again, this time Amara came in and smiled sheepishly at her sister while she introduced herself to everyone before excusing herself and asking Jason to join her for a chat.

“It’s a beautiful garden.”

Jason had taken her out into the rose garden and after a few minutes of awkward silence that was the best she could come up with, she nearly wanted to kick herself.

“Did you seriously call me out here to discuss the roses Nurse Knight?”

Amara winced at the way he addressed her, once when they had been getting along and laughing and joking, he said her name and she snapped at him to call her Nurse Knight and left in a huff, looking back she nearly wanted to hide under a blanket in shame. Her behavior had been worse than the people who bullied her for being intelligent, she was ashamed of herself. 

“Amara, my name is Amara and considering where we are you should use it Jason.”

He scoffed at her and she nearly physically winced, Jason was not someone who used pretty words, he called anyone out on their bullshit regardless of age, race or even status. He believed in people being answerable to their actions and right now that scoff spoke volumes.

“I’m not good with people, I never had any friends besides my sister but being the resident genius was everything to me until someone new came along and as Anna put it ‘stole my thunder’.”

Jason rolled his eyes, “So you were jealous so you acted like an arrogant bitch?”

Amara nearly rolled her eyes, this is what she meant when she said he called people out on their bullshit, “Yeah I was and it wasn’t fair.”

Jason nearly smirked at the uncomfortable expression on her face, “That wasn’t an apology Nurse, I didn’t hear no ‘sorry’, you know?”

Amara nearly punched him, he made it so hard to apologize when he was being a smartass, “I said I wasn’t being fair.” And then she nearly punched herself because that sounded like a whine.

Jason laughed loudly too and rolled his eyes, “You ain’t gonna give me a hard time anymore?” 

Amara just shook her head in answer and then he asked, “You gonna be nice out there tomorrow? Just be polite, you can even say we work together and that we’re friends.”

Amara couldn’t help but snipe back, “As long as you remember to use my name, I can manage polite.”

Jason laughed and left the garden, “You better follow Amara or you’ll get lost in here.”

Amara nearly threw her shoe at his smug ass as she hurried to keep up with his long strides, even though she wasn’t trying to find reasons to not hate him anymore, he still managed to infuriate her.

Amara and Tim surprising got along very well, they were both study freaks with more brains than they knew what to do with and Amara while being a doctor did know quite a bit on the research being done into cancer, which Tim was currently trying to get Lucius to agree to get the Wayne medical research center into studying something. The two were discussing the theory of it until the boy got out a note pad and started taking notes as she explained some medical stuff for him with Jason interrupting now and then with what he knew.

Anna just rolled her eyes and went back to talking about music with Dick and Damian. Bruce was watching them all while pretending to read a magazine when Barbara and Stephanie walked in. Bruce had honestly just been enjoying the chatter, it was nice to sometimes just get a single night with just his family and sitting there watching Dick and Anna he could see why Damian was so interested in these girls. As a bat trained child, Dick never completely let his guard down unless he was somewhere he knew he was completely safe, there was even that time when they had been fighting when he hadn’t relaxed around him, it was only when Jason returned did he start to do so once again, there was also that little time when they were unsure of whether or not touching Jason would trigger pit rage, something that hadn’t been triggered in nearly 6 months but the fact was that with Anna sitting next to him, she fit in perfectly in the space at his side, he even had an arm draped across her shoulders while she spoke with Damian, they almost looked like a family and Dick was completely relaxed with her in his personal space.

Then there was Amara and Jason, they were comfortable being in each other’s space something that probably came from working with each other but there was tension between them, not in a bad way more like they were hyper aware of each other and they were subtle at challenging each other without even knowing it as they discussed whatever Tim’s new project was, something about cancer he believed but there was something about Jason while he spoke to her that just made him itch a little. Jason was lively with her, passionate, a passion that Bruce had thought died with the Joker beating him. Jason had always been unconsciously carrying the weight of his death, he felt tainted by it almost unworthy of living and it showed in his eyes, but with this person by his side, he had found his fire again.

Things were actually going well and peacefully until Barbara and Steph walked into the room. The two girls were slightly more dressed up than the sisters. The sisters were both wearing jeans and sweaters but Steph was wearing high waisted shorts and a black tank top with boots while Barbara was wearing a white summers dress and flats. The two girls had obviously been out at the mall, having some normal time before the gates of hell opened and the hounds descended (Steph’s words) and they both knew that Dick was thinking of having this little get together but with things being as busy as they were currently no one had the chance to inform them that the sisters were going to be here.

Barbara zeroed in on the woman snuggled into Dick’s side and she also caught his relaxed posture and narrowed her eyes. Dick never let down his guard around her, he did it when they were younger but when she became Batgirl and he had his falling out with Bruce for a little while, he stopped relaxing in her presence and now there was some stranger that he was extremely content to have in his arms, it seemed strange. Then there was the weird vibes that you got when you looked at Jason and decided that whatever the hell was happening there Bruce, Tim and Damian had been right when they said it was complicated and decided to stay the hell away. She took a deep breath and scolded herself mentally.

‘You were the one who chose to end the relationship without allowing Dick to even get in a word. You were the one who thought that things were getting too hard and that you didn’t want to ruin your friendship so it was better to let him go. You were the one who wanted to let him go even when he was trying to change your mind so stop acting like you’re jealous BG.’ She thought to herself while furiously trying to ignore the other voice in her head that was saying, ‘But you wanted to see if he would fight to be with you and he didn’t, the whole point was to see if he thought the relationship was worth fighting for and he didn’t.’

A bell like sound interrupted her inner monologue and she realized that the woman, Anna if she remembered correctly, was laughing and Damian the little brat was doing his version of a smile (the half smile where only the corners of my mouth turn upwards) while Bruce mirrored his sons facial expression and Barbara called out, “I’m home and I brought Steph.” Cutting the moment short.

Tim stopped debating with Amara and Jason and went to kiss Steph’s cheek hello while Stephanie introduced herself to Anna and Amara. The sisters turned to her and Barbara was honestly shocked at their similarities, the had the same shape nose and eyes, even their mouths were nearly identical and the shade of purple in their eyes were the same, the only thing that was largely different was the hair, Anna’s hair reminded her of a fire and the flames as the flames turned different colors of red and orange while Amara’s hair was black, just black, almost blueish black in the bright light but she smiled and introduced herself. They were saved anymore conversation by Alfred announcing dinner and Barbara nearly wanted to kiss the man in thanks, this was going to be one hell of a dinner and she had that sinking feeling in her stomach that this was going to end up with girl drama not end of the world drama.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im writing this story as if the only people who know the bat clans identity is the founding members of the league that means that the team doesnt know who is under the masks, I know thats not canon coz wally and Roy and eventually everyone else found out about robin in s1 but for my plot purposes they dont know. We wont see that for a few more chapters though.

Chapter 12

Anna was lying face down in her pillows in this ridiculously huge bed and tried not to scream out in frustration or start crying like an idiot. Dinner had been nice, Anna and Amara spent some time chatting with everyone until Tim and Steph got drawn into their own world, it was kind of cute when she saw it the first time but then she saw something else that made her blood run cold and sent her mind down a dark path, with bad thoughts.

Barbara and Dick were sitting next to each other, Anna was on his left and Barbara was whispering in his ear, he was smiling and nodding and at first she dismissed it and kept up her conversation with Damian who was opposite her. She ignored the inside jokes that Barbara and Dick were chatting about, she tried to get his attention for just a moment to include him in the conversation she was having with Damian but he just looked at her, blinked, nodded his head and turned back to Barbara.

She made sure no one could see the hurt on her face but her sister gave Barbara a nasty look, Jason elbowed her and she huffed and went back to eating, out of the corner of her eye she saw Bruce frown and then she just excused herself. She didn’t even wait for desert or whatever, the food was better than she tasted at some restaurants but she just needed to get out of there. She knew that there was something about Barbara, as soon as she walked into the room she and Dick had this energy that drew them together but seeing how they got along, hurt. It made her wonder what the hell she was doing here when he already had the perfect girl right under his nose.

Her room door opened and her sister walked in, she sighed, he hadn’t even realized that something was wrong but then again when he had Barbara at his side everything else just disappeared so why should he remember the kindergarten teacher upstairs, she thought bitterly. 

“You gonna talk about it?” asked Amara.

Anna just sighed, “I’m pretty sure the entire family figured it out and he didn’t. What am I doing here Mara?” 

Amara wished that she could just roll her eyes or joke her sister out of this but she had been letting that scum rule her life for too long. She was not going to let her sister destroy herself, not ever again. Anna gave her a kick in her ass earlier today and it seemed like it was time to stop babying her wounds and just be honest with her, she actually had something that she could lose if she didn’t wake the hell up.

“You pulled my head out of my ass earlier looks like its my turn. Anna stop pouting and go fight for your man.”

Anna just gave her sister a blank look, “Huh?”

This time Amara really did roll her eyes, “You need to fucking fight for what you and if you want him then you’re gonna have to fight for him. His ex-girlfriend isn’t the only one who isn’t just going to hand him over without a fight, tomorrow there’s gonna be hundreds of women who want to be on his arm and he chose for you to be there so you have to fight for your place.”

Anna just stared at her sister, “You want me to fight Barbara Gordon for him?” she asked and Amara threw a pillow at her in frustration.

“No you bloody idiot. You never, ever fight another woman for a man, any man and that includes Dick Grayson-Wayne. Anna when you find someone that you want to be with you have to put in effort, something that I never did with anyone because I didn’t want too but I do know one thing you fight FOR someone not OVER them. There is a difference. Go talk to your boyfriend and remind him that as a taken man his behavior isn’t appropriate especially with an ex. He wouldn’t like it if you behaved in that way so he shouldn’t expect you to be alright with it. It’s his responsibility to talk to Barbara not yours, she is still his friend and its up to him to draw the lines and if he isn’t willing to do that then you know where the door is, hell I’ll hold it open while you walk out but baby girl you need to stand up for yourself. Drake was an asshole who didn’t know what he was talking about, stop second guessing yourself and move your ass. Fix this before things get crazy.”

Anna just looked a little confused and uncertain and Amara huffed, “Look we can do this two ways, you can stay in here, not say a word, have a miserable evening tomorrow and then slowly distance yourself until you find a way to dump him politely because you don’t feel like you’re good enough for him or you can go out there and face the problem. The first way basically guarantees that you lose him but the second way gives you a chance to make your relationship stronger so tell me is he worth fighting for?”

Anna didn’t say anything so Amara huffed and walked out, if Anna wasn’t going to say or do anything then there was nothing more that she could do for her. She went back to the bedroom across the hall.

Anna just sat there for a little while wondering the exact same thing, was Dick worth it? She didn’t know how to reply to that question so quickly, she needed time to think, to actually think about what she wanted and not brood and sulk because that was what she had spent most of her time doing. Dick was an enigma, she didn’t understand every part of him and she had no-where as near as much history as Barbara did with him but she did have her memories of the two of them, they watched the sunset, chased each other in the park, danced in the rain once even though it was incredibly cheesy, they both laughed about it, he brought her roses at school and he was adorable with her class of little ones.

He cared about her and he fought for her first, he was the one who pestered her until she agreed to a date, he was the one who chased after her when she ran and he was the one who told her that the reason as to why he wanted to be with her was because she made him feel human, normal, accepted. She brought him peace something that he hadn’t had in a long time something that only she could bring to him. She might not have the history that Barbara had with him but she was in eye in the storm, she was his peace and the past had no place in their future. He was willing to fight for her now she needed to fight for him, as well as remind him that he was the one who wanted her, he couldn’t just stop treating her as his girlfriend when his best friend showed up, it was ridiculous.

She checked the time, it was nearing 11pm and she knew that his room was only a few doors away from hers, she grabbed her robe and put it on over her nightdress. Her long hair flowed freely down her back as she closed her door. She walked to the end of the hall and knocked on the door. Barbara opened it and her smile fell when she saw Anna standing in the doorway. Dick was sitting at his desk, shirtless though he was wearing pants and he was smiling as well until he saw the cold look in his girlfriend’s eyes. Anna was done with this bullshit, this, it wasn’t even fair or maybe it was just plain ridiculous. This may have been fine and dandy when he wasn’t seeing anyone but this was crossing a line, this was just so disrespectful, that what it was, it was insulting.

“Leave Barbara.” Anna’s voice was ice cold and Barbara narrowed her eyes but before she could speak Anna spoke again, “This is a private discussion between my boyfriend and I would like you to leave, you have no place in our private affairs.”

Barbara nearly winced, she was being cruel and she knew it but at the same time she just hadn’t been thinking and now looking at the horror on Dick’s face and the hurt that was in Anna’s eyes she realized exactly how far she had gone, she didn’t mean for it to go so far, she was just reminding Dick of all the history they shared and then they started discussing some stuff from the team and they ended up chatting in his room, they did it all the time before their relationship and afterwards as well but now she realized how it would look to the person that he was dating, someone that she knew Dick cared about. She didn’t reply to Anna she just nodded her head and left the room, she could apologize tomorrow morning to Anna if she was still there because it was possible that she had ruined their relationship and for some reason she wasn’t as happy as she thought she would be with that happening.

Anna closed the door and turned to face Dick, she honestly had no idea where to even start, she didn’t want to shout nor did she want to accuse him of doing something but she didn’t know how to do this but she was saved starting the conversation by Dick speaking first.

“Nothing happened you know that right?” 

Dick had been having a great night, Anna had gotten along with his family and then he and Babs spent some time bickering like old times over dinner until they ended up talking missions and decided it was probably best to have that conversation in his bedroom but then he saw Anna and realized that this didn’t look very good in the eyes of his girlfriend.

“I know better than to think that you were cheating Dick honestly I’m not blind to your character.” Anna replied but the response was cold, she was even standing far away from him, everything about her just screamed ‘stay away’ and he was a little lost. If she didn’t think that he was cheating on her then why was she so unhappy with him?

“I don’t understand, if you know that then why do I feel like I’m still doing something wrong?” he asked.

Anna sighed, was he really this dense? No he wasn’t Dick was not a stupid person but he honestly couldn’t see what he was doing wrong because he just didn’t understand.

“You know I would never tell you to stop being friends with someone I don’t want to be that type of girlfriend but I think you need to realize something Barbara is your ex-girlfriend and your best friend. That puts me in an uncomfortable position because I now have to try not getting jealous over the years of friendship that the two of you have while trying to get her to like me as well. I don’t want to cause a rift between the two of you but Dick you need to draw some lines in your friendship with her, this behavior is disrespectful to me and honestly it’s a little insulting as well. You are so comfortable with her that the two of you don’t have any boundaries and now I need you to understand that a friendship like that makes me feel like I’m the one who is intruding somewhere I don’t belong.”

Dick just stared at her a little shocked before he got angry, “You just said you trusted me.”

Anna narrowed her eyes at him, “I do but I wouldn’t behave like this if the situation was reversed Dick. How would you feel if my ex was in my bedroom at 11pm while you were three doors away? How would you feel if I ignored you for my male best friend in front of my entire family? I never told you to stop being her friend, I’m asking you to draw some lines because if you can’t then I don’t belong here and I will leave.”

Anna turned around and walked away, “Think about your behavior tonight and tell me how you would feel if that was me prancing around with someone else. You say that you chose me but now you need to act like you have, you can’t keep falling back into your old almost relationship with Barbara while having an actual relationship with me.”

The door closing was a sound that echoed in his ears. Anna never threw a tantrum nor did she make a scene, she spoke to him and expected him to listen and then think before he said something in anger or defensive that would probably make the situation worse because he really didn’t know what he did wrong. He thought about everything that happened but he couldn’t figure out where he was going wrong or what Anna meant about drawing lines and crossing boundaries. 

Dick ended up outside Bruce’s study, walking through the manor when they had a lot on their minds was something that all four siblings did and somehow they always ended up at this door. Dick noticed the light was on and knocked on the door.

“It’s a little late for you to be wondering around isn’t it?” said Bruce when he noticed his eldest in the doorway, it was nearing midnight.

“Anna and I had a fight, I think. She isn’t happy with me and I don’t know why.”

Bruce frowned, Dick was a very bright person but sometimes he could be as dull with people as Bruce himself could be at times. Bruce sighed, Dick probably wasn’t going to like what he was going to say but the truth was something that hurt and Dick well he needed to grow up and let go of some things and that included Barbara and their past if he wanted to move forward.

“You know, everyone else in the room noticed what went wrong and only you don’t see it Dick.”

Dick just looked miserably at his adoptive father, “What am I missing?”

Bruce shook his head at his son, “You aren’t missing anything, you’re blinded by Barbara.”

Dick scrowled, “I now you never liked the fact that we dated but that’s all in the past, I have Anna now.”

Bruce nodded and refused to allow himself to get angry with Dick’s stubbornness, “You’re hurting Anna because you haven’t let go of Barbara.” Before Dick could interrupt and start defending himself, Bruce banged the table and gave him the bat glare that said ‘shut up and listen before I kick your ass.’

“Dick you say that I didn’t like the fact that you and Barbara dated but that isn’t the truth, well not completely. I didn’t like how blinded you were by Barbara. You always had this picture in your head of a white picket fence with Barbara at the door when you came home and kids and that life there is nothing wrong with wanting that life but your problem was that you weren’t looking at yourself clearly and you weren’t looking at Barbara clearly. 

You were looking at the masks that the two of you wore and in the that life where you were just an orphan who got lucky and fell in love with his childhood best friend then that life would be cookie cutter picture perfect but that isn’t reality and its time you let her go because neither of you really are those people. The fact is that you loved the idea of Barbara of what she represented because she was the only normal person in your life and then she became Batgirl and suddenly she was no longer just yours, she carried the same burden that you did, a burden that seemed lighter when you had her there for you as your friend without her knowing of the mask.”

“Bruce..” Dick just trailed off because he had no idea what he was supposed to say but Bruce ignored him and carried on.

“You and Barbara always had a very close relationship which has for a long time now been shaded in the grey. Your physical affection, the comfort that the two of you had around each other even the chemistry between you two neither of you drew any lines which would have defined your relationship as friends or more and now you have someone who is asking you to do so because Anna needs to know where she stands, and that only you can answer once you decide whether or not you can let go of the possibility of Barbara, and once you make that choice you cannot go back.”

Dick left the study with a whole new perspective and he realized that Bruce had told him something similar to what Jason had told him when he first returned. Jason said that Barbara carried a lot on her shoulders and that he would need someone whose only priority was taking care of him and he knew that Jason had a point because that was why he and Barbara fought, she felt like he babied her in field when they dated, that he needed to protect her and then they fought about her being busy, Barbara was maintaining her own double life they rarely had time to spend with each other. He hated that Bruce was right but mostly he hated that he hurt Anna because he was so damn stubborn.

It was nearing 3am when he finally went to bed, he had done enough thinking, Anna was probably fast asleep, he would go to her in the morning and talk to her, apologize for being so blind and then he would have to talk to Barbara.

Dick slept poorly and woke up earlier than expected, they were supposed to be up from at least 9 am and then there was something about caterers and decorators and last minute dress ups and honestly he had no idea what Alfred had planned for the day but this Gala was the most annoying party that the Wayne family had ever thrown, they never put this much effort into a function before in their lives.

Dick knocked on Anna’s door at 7 am hoping to talk to her before anyone else woke up and decided that they were needed in other places.

Anna opened her door and was fully dressed, she didn’t look like she slept any better than he had but he smiled at her, hoping that she wasn’t too mad anymore. Anna stepped aside and allowed Dick to come inside the room.

“I thought about what you said and you were right I wasn’t fair.”

Anna said nothing just waited for him to gather his thoughts for a moment, “I spoke to Bruce gained a little perspective and I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you and I will talk to Barbara. We never established any lines in our friendship, there were even times when we fake dated or played it up a bit to give the press a story but I need you to know that I’ll do better, I made my choice and Babs and I that ship has sailed.”

Anna smiled brightly at him and they shared a sweet kiss, “That’s all I’m asking for and I know that she still means a lot to you, your friendship is important but this between us is new and I will never ask anything of you that I am not prepared to do for you.”

Dick smiled at her, “I know you wouldn’t and I’m sorry I got so carried away that I made you feel uncomfortable.”

Dick left Anna with her sister going over the guest lists. The list of people that need to be greeted and spoken to by the four siblings and Bruce himself had been split up so they could cover more ground quickly, Anna and Amara didn’t need to memorize anything but they thought it would help if they had an idea of who was going to be in the ballroom and who they might end up talking too. He went off in search of Barbara, he knocked on her door and opened it wearing a robe, inviting him inside and he paused. This is what she meant about being too comfortable.

Dick shook his head, “I’ll be waiting for you in the Den, we need to talk before things get crazy, put something on and meet me there.”

Barbara nodded though she looked a bit confused and told him to give her a few minutes. When she walked in Dick switched off the T.V. 

“We can’t be doing this anymore.” He said and Barbara simply raised an eyebrow, “We aren’t doing anything Dick.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m being serious BG. Look we never established any lines actually we had more fun crossing them and leaving people wondering than anything else but that ends now. We’re friends and I love you but I won’t lose Anna not over something that I can fix, not playing around in the shades of grey in our relationship is something that I can do, it isn’t a deal breaker for me.”

Barbara narrowed her eyes, “What is it about her that has you fighting tooth and nail? You never bothered to even try with us Dick and we had so much history, so much potential.”

Dick laughed but it was a dry sound with no actual humor, “You know I actually spoke to Bruce and figured some things out. I cannot ask you to give up Batgirl because it’s a part of you just like being Nightwing is a part of me but it’s also why we can’t be together. I can’t be with someone who wears a mask, someone else who carries the weight of the world on their shoulders because I don’t have the strength to keep their head above the water and mine. I need someone to carry me Babs when I’m not being a leader, not being a mentor, not being a son or a brother. I need some peace, a safe place where I can be weak and that used to be you but then you put on a mask and you can’t sacrifice that piece of yourself to be what I need. That’s why I didn’t fight for us, because I knew that somewhere, I knew I just didn’t want to let go of something I wanted for so long.” 

“You really think that she can give that to you?” asked Barbara, not liking what she heard but understanding what he meant.

Dick just shrugged, “Don’t know but I hope so and I’m willing to try.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cassandra is a character that I spent a lot of time reading about trying to get a read on her and trying to figure out how to write her. She isnt seen but I did write about how Bruce sees her... lemme know what u think.. I really dont know if im getting their relationship right.

Chapter 13

Dick sighed, it was over, the circus had finally left town, the media was out of the building, and they could finally go back to being them. It was Wednesday night and the party which had been nearly three nights ago was over. The picture of him and Anna dancing was plastered on the front page of the newspaper with everyone wanting to know who she was, while Bruce played the airhead and passed everyone over to Lucius, Damian set his image as the animal rights activists and musical prodigy, Tim played the over worked genius child who was looking to get several degrees in bio chemistry, business and other things that at this point Dick couldn’t even begin to pronounce and Jason played the part of the up and coming doctor looking to make daddy proud, having Amara on his arm raised the eyebrow of every bloody person even remotely related to medicine and there was a lot of articles on them as well.

Dick just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep, hopefully for about 12 hours. The media was currently running him as the Prince of Gotham who managed to capture his Princess while Brucie had been promoted to King due to the new status change, all in all it was exhausting mentally and physically to deal with all but the press finally got their stories and they were finally retreating and leaving them alone, hopefully for a long time because he didn’t have the energy to do this again.

Anna and Amara were home and the house was just quiet, finally. Bruce used the party to announce that he would be taking a trip to some sort of remote rainforest to see if there were any ways to use some plant in medical research, honestly he had not been paying attention to the excuses and he just caught the jist of the story. They now had a good cover for when Bruce and the rest of the League went off world for their trial. Dick was also pretty sure that they would leave in a few days, they were just waiting for the green light from the Lanterns.

Jason came down the stairs looking tired and Tim was home as well. Dick called for Damian and he decided that it was time for some good old fashioned brotherly bonding. They watched movies and argued over who was the better character and then they called out all the bad and unrealistic scenes from action movies, all in all it was a pretty tame night. None of them were wearing any masks, for just this one night they were just brothers and when Bruce joined them, their little family was complete. They ended up passed out in a puppy pile on the floor and if Alfred secretly took as many pictures as he possibly could then that was no ones business but his own.

Tim and Jason were sparring in the cave early the next morning, after escaping Dick’s octopus hold, Jason may not put on the mask anymore but he still kept himself in peak physical condition and he sparred to ensure that just in case he would be ready and he made a good opponent for both Tim and Damian training wise.

“Did it ever bother you?” asked Tim.

Jason ducked a punch and threw a kick, “Did what ever bother me baby bird?”

Tim rolled his eyes at the nickname, since Damian was the baby bat they had taken to calling him the baby bird and he just like Damian just didn’t fight it, honestly it was just a battle that was not worth fighting, in this family you had to choose your battles to win the war.

“Not being able to tell the team your real name? They hang out a lot both in and out of the mask but they don’t really try to get very close to me, is it because they don’t know my identity?”

Jason threw Tim a bottle of water, while they cooled down he thought back to those days, when he had been Robin, the memories were no longer broken and fragmented. He remembered and understood, hell if he tried hard enough he could probably recall every emotion that he ever felt but his experience with the team had been different from Dick and even Tim.

“When I joined Dickie and B were still on the outs, the team didn’t know it, not the whole story but they knew something was off and Dick didn’t really want me there. I only went for a couple of visits and then when things between us weren’t so rocky I went on maybe three or four missions with them before I died. They didn’t really know me Tim and I didn’t have enough time to try and make friends with them.”

Jason saw as Tim seemed to close in on himself, the kid really did have a hard time talking to people, he still felt it better to fade into the background and not bother anyone with his problems it was why he didn’t like to ask for advice and Jason hated that it was probably because of his upbringing. His parents spent so little time with him that he chose to try and be perfect so that no one could find any fault with him so that maybe his parents would stick around if he didn’t do anything wrong. There were so many things wrong with that and their lives were so crazy that he didn’t always have time to deal with their personal problems, they were trying but it would never really be perfect.

“Did you know that Dick dated Zatanna as Robin for nearly seven months before B allowed him to tell her who he was outside the mask?”

Tim looked shocked, “She was okay not knowing who she was dating?”

Jason just shrugged, “Don’t know how it worked but they made it work. The Bats are a secretive bunch, the League knows it and so does the team. Dick is best friends with Wally, Roy and Artemis but they don’t know who he is under the mask and they make it work. Our identity isn’t just important because of the usual reasons its also because of how public our personas are and the Team respects that. The more senior members of the team might be hard for you to connect with but the newer kids, you’ll have better luck there.”

Tim bit his lip, a rare nervous trait that was almost never seen, “So you think that if I asked to hang out with them even though they don’t know, it’ll be okay?”

Jason just patted his head, “It will be, Dick went on plenty of outings with the team without telling them his real name, you can do the same.”

Jason sighed and ran his hand over his face as Tim went to mountain, B actually got a zeta tube in the cave for easy access Jason was shocked at that one, you know security risks and all that but he was definitely done doing the whole big brother thing for the day. It was emotionally exhausting and he wasn’t exactly sure if he managed to help Tim, hell he still wasn’t sure what the problem Tim was having but whatever it was he seemed to be in a better place when he left so Jason counted it as a win as he left the cave he looked back at the mask and just for a moment he allowed the nostalgia to hit him then he went to do his homework, he still had a boat load of work to get done for the hospital and he didn’t really have time to be remembering the past, a past that he had made peace with and regret that he no longer felt.

Damian however was glaring at his Father. He wanted Damian to go to the mountain as well, not for a mission but to get to know the heroes there and Damian really didn’t want to go. He knew that since he had been running around as Robin when Tim wasn’t around he had been progressing but he hadn’t made many friends. This was his fathers attempt at helping but it really was not something Damian wanted to touch on just yet.

Tim hadn’t found his place on the team and introducing Damian in now would hamper his development on the team. The last time Damian hadn’t even met the team yet, they were still discussing whether or not the team would be able to help him but right now Tim was still the only Robin that they knew about and he wasn’t ready to become Red Robin either.

“Father it won’t be a good idea for them to meet us both.” Insisted Damian.

Bruce sighed, he didn’t get why Damian refused to do this, “It’s just a meeting, you won’t be joining the team yet.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “Father, Tim has not established his place amongst them. I do not want to hamper his growth, the whole point of the team was to give him experience in the field without us and they are all still much older than I. I will not find a friend amongst them not yet.”

Bruce was once again stunned at the level of maturity that Damian showed as well as his compassion. While he knew that he didn’t show many emotions that didn’t mean that he didn’t have any, he just didn’t do very well conveying them and this was a prime example. He wanted to help his youngest not realizing that he would most likely be stepping on the toes of Tim, someone who was just growing into himself and trying to define himself as his own hero. He was not ready, but he was getting there and the team was helping, adding in Damian would probably hamper that growth and take away from his independence something that he hadn’t taken into account because he didn’t think of Tim’s feelings. 

Bruce watched Damian leave knowing that he had won the argument but there was something that just didn’t feel right. Damian was his son that much he was sure of but he had been raised by Talia someone that he knew viewed love as weakness but she was also an expert manipulator. Damian shouldn’t have seen through those masks, Talia could be dangerous when pushed and pushed far but she only showed the depths of her depravity when she was backed into a corner and had no other options so he couldn’t help but feel like there was something off. Damian never got lost in the manor when he first arrived, he brushed it off saying something about training but it was very convenient, he knew too much about them. He understood their emotions too well, he saw issues with their actions that would have probably negatively impacted on them further down the road and a boy his age just shouldn’t be able to understand that much. The training he received in the League of Shadows should have hampered his understanding of emotions, he should have been taught to mask every feeling but the boy understood too deeply, almost as if he had already seen the consequences of their bad decisions.

Bruce was sure that the boy was hiding something but so far everything that he had done was to protect their family and somehow make it stronger that he didn’t look too deeply and now with him going off world he would have enough time to get an answer out of him and it worried him. It could be part of one of Talia’s plots but then again it could be something else, he ran from Talia so there had to be something that scared him, something that forced him to see them as they truly were and forced him to run to his father because he was sure that Damian had believed that Talia loved him until she proved that she didn’t.

He really didn’t want to go off world, he was still dealing with Cassandra Cain, she had been running around Gotham around the same time as Stephanie and he had managed to win her loyalty but there was just something about her, she was different from the boys she did have the black hair but her eyes were brown and contrary to popular belief he did not adopt every black haired blue eyed child around but there was something about her that called to his ‘inner batdad’ as Dick called it. She was a lost soul, looking for a place to belong in, she didn’t need to be protected, she could probably take him down given enough time but it wasn’t about that, it was about the fact that she had been abused, broken and she still survived.

The world tried to turn her into a monster and she still rose above it all, she had a will of iron and a spine of steel. She was like him, forged herself into something better from the fires of pain, she turned tragedy into something better, something that could protect others from the same type of pain that she once faced and she had connections to the League of Shadows. She could provide Damian with a bit of home and familiarity and he wouldn’t be as lonely in the manor. He doubted she would stay long, she had the feel of a traveler but he could give her a home, somewhere that she could return too and he could give her three older brothers who would protect her not from physical harm but from everything else, she wouldn’t have to be alone. He would have to talk it over with the others, they knew there was someone out there, met her in passing but bringing her into the family, well it was probably best that he didn’t just adopt another kid and spring the teen on them. Dick hadn’t taken things very well when he had done so the last time and he did learn from his mistakes even if he didn’t admit his mistakes.

He said his goodbye to Damian and Alfred at home and then one more to Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin before he finally went to stand trial, he could talk to his family when he got back because he knew he would come back, his insane sons might just start a civil war or break him out of alien jail if he didn’t.

Damian already knew how the story would play out and he was already trying to figure out a way to save Kid Flash when everything came to a head. His brother mourned for his friend and Artemis was the never the same. He would not let it happen again, it was one of the reasons why he didn’t want to interfere with the Team and their missions, everything would build up to that tragedy and he didn’t want to do something that would change the outcome. He wanted to limit his involvement with the other heroes at least until he was sure that nothing that he did would impact negatively on any of their missions. He knew that everything that the Team did during this time was successful, Aqualad returned from his assignment, Artemis wasn’t really dead, and when Tim had been kidnapped he was returned to them. The only really bad thing that happened was that Kid Flash hadn’t survived something which could be avoided if they found the device which had been hidden near Superman’s fortress, all he needed to do was alert them to the device earlier and Kid Flash wouldn’t die.

Damian had a more or less clear plan but he also knew that his Father was getting suspicious. He had hoped that he would never have to tell his father of the fact that he died and somehow time travelled and decided to save his family’s crumbling bonds. Damian looked at himself in the mirror, granted that he hadn’t really had a hand in everything that happened, all he really did was bring Jason home, the therapy and everything else was Bruce, Dick and Tim handling things better, without a crisis and a world to save out there, the Bats actually had time to sort themselves out. Most of the errors that they made came from the apocalypse knocking on their door and split second decisions made, most of them which were not meant to be cruel but still came across as such.

This time Damian just helped them understand each other better which helped better their bonds and while he was doing well he knew that he would have to talk to his Father. He didn’t want his Father to know of the angry misunderstood pre-teen he had been when he first came here, he was also covered in the blood of others, he had killed in that timeline and he had no problem with doing so, he was ashamed of the person he had been and he didn’t want them to look at him differently. He had enjoyed the relationship that he had with his family now, the fact that he was able to express his love for his family without violence or anger, the fact that no one looked at him in suspicion anymore, everything was just so much better this time and he really didn’t want to damage that but it was also a lie.

This may be who he was now but that didn’t change the fact that it had been a long journey to get him here, one in which he fought against what seemed to the whole world, where he faced betrayal and suspicion and he still chose to be Robin to be Batman’s son, to be a Wayne. When he died he was 12 years old and he was in a better place, he understood things which he had once taken for granted and then he spent an entire year away from his family, a family that didn’t even know he existed and in that time, he reflected and finally let go of the anger. He made peace with himself and his past and his father while not perfect believed in second chances.

He accepted Jason when he had been a gun wielding maniac struggling not to kill whose eyes turned eerie green and went a little insane now and then, he trusted Cassandra and she was the daughter of Lady Shiva and could possibly be one of the most dangerous women on the planet and yes he was placing her above his mother but seriously, League and Batman training, put Cass on a whole new level. He grudgingly accepted Steph and she broke his sons heart, faked her death and gave up her baby that she bore at the age of 16 so yes while he held them all at almost impossible standards it didn’t change the fact that he gave them a home, accepted them faults and all and he tried, so it really wouldn’t matter that Damian was some sort of time traveller especially when one of his sons had managed to dig his way out of his grave so even with his new status as a time traveller he wouldn’t be the oddest son of the Bat. He would wait for his Father to confront him but until that happened he wasn’t going to give anything away.


End file.
